Cassandra and Jah'ren
by Luna Ardere
Summary: A young hunter happens upon a troll that seems to be different from what she though his race was like. The troll find the woman fascinating, mostly because she doesn't scream and run. Rated mature because of nudity, and some violence.
1. First meeting

This is a fanfic from the game World of Warcraft that I wrote based on two of my characters. There's a troll and a human, and they are friends... and well, I think he might think she's a new kind of interesting pet. But here it is nontheless. I don't own the game (but I do own the story and the faults, like the fact that trolls have four fingers, when I think they might have only two, but I don't care that much ;)

*****

Cassandra wriggled out of the leather armour, before discarding it in the bushes together with the rest of her clothing. Daggers and gun too. She needed a bath more than she had ever needed one. Well, at least more than she could remember she'd ever needed one. Sweat and dirt from travelling had already soaked her clothes and she longed for the feeling of being clean.

Like a pale fish she flowed through the water, swimming more under the surface than above it until she reached the little golden bank of sand halfway across the riverpond. Climbing onto one of the larger rocks there she let the sun caress her tired body while shaking the braided hair loose.

The feeling hit her like ice cold water, and almost trembling with fear she turned her head and looked towards the riverbank opposite the one where she had left her belongings.

He stood as still as if he had been cut from stone where the shadows of the overhanging trees danced on the river's surface. She used no more that a second to realise it was too far back to her weapons and at the same time noticing the crude bow hanging from a branch almost within reach of his long arms.

The troll did not move. Even in the shadows she could see the colour of his skin, a bright shade of blue. Within a mane of darkgreen hair the stoic face did not convey a single thing about his thoughts, but she could all too well read the way his muscles were tensed, his eyes darting here and there, watching, and one fourfingered hand ready to grab the weapon.

A moment she thought about trying for the shore. If she jumped into the water and kept beneath the surface she might have a chance, but was discouraged when her eyes came to rest on the troll's slender, scarred arms. There was enough muscle there to send an arrow through a treetrunk if necessary, and the longbow hanging from the branch looked like it might be up to the task.

Terror spreading throughout her limbs, Cassandra did the only sensible thing for a woman to do in this situation. She slowly folded her arms over her breasts and squeezed her knees tight together desperately trying to hide her nakedness.

"No fear, wo'man,"

Shocked to hear the troll speak her own language she turned to look at him again. He waded a little out in the water, away from the bow, but to her dread it also brought him closer to her. Then he lifted the left hand out of the water. In it he held a round, white object, and Cassandra, almost feeling the blow of what she was certain was a stone, closed her own hand around a smooth river rock.

A slightly disturbing laugh left the troll's lips as they pulled back in a grin. Then he shrugged and started washing. Soon the water around him was filled with white foam. When he finished he made a motion towards Cassandra, before throwing the white soap easily across the almost ten meters between them.

She grabbed it, not taking her eyes from him a single moment, ready for whatever tricks he was certainly playing on her. Still not looking away she started soaping her hair, the woman in her refusing to waste the chance of a perfectly good bar of soap, no matter who gave it to her.

The troll still stood motionless, watching her moves with an intrigued look in his eyes.

"Me, Jah'ren," he said after a while. "Me hunter."

Cassandra said nothing for a while, but she soon realised he was waiting for her reply.

"I am Cassandra," she volunteered. "People call me Cass."

"Kas San Dra…" the troll mimicked, tasting every syllable as they passed through his mouth.

Silence fell over the pond again, and it struck Cassandra that it was because the troll was trying to find something to say.

In the end he coughed slightly and said:

"No fear, Kas san dra. Jah'ren no fight."

Cassandra did not know what to reply to this, so she continued washing her hair and face in silence, very careful not to move too much, or to let her eyes leave the troll. Jah'ren was still watching her, curiosity evident in his gaze. In the end Cassandra couldn't keep silent any longer.

"We are enemies," she said, trying to fish out the troll's reasons for not attacking.

He did not answer immediately, and she used the time to study him, first and foremost because she knew he any minute could prove to be an opponent, and secondly because he was intriguing her as well.

She had never been very close to a troll before, except for one or two that had been in Horde gangs ravaging the villages around the coast where she was born. Since she took the path of the hunter she had fought a troll once, but it had been armour-clad and its (she was not certain it had been a he or a she) eyes had burned evilly and fierce.

Beneath this one's dark fringe of hair two eyes burned with the calm fire of the deep, green, wild forest. Watching him, she realised it was all too evident that if she would have to fight him, she would be outclassed. Old, faded scars ran over the slender muscles, bearing witness of a life in battle, and the way he was standing, apparently casually relaxed, told her he would be ready to fight for his life within mere seconds.

"Enemies?" he said, stretching both arms forward till she could hear the joints creak. "Washing. No enemies."

This answer annoyed Cassandra.

"But we _are_ enemies!" she said, wondering why she was deliberately trying to provoke him. "You are with the Horde, I serve the Alliance."

The troll seemed to think this through. His eyes narrowed slightly and moved from her to the bow and back again. Then he raised his right arm into the air, showing a long, red wound down along the ribcage. It could hardly be days old, and while washing he had obviously torn it again, so that a thin line of blood ran down into the riverwater.

"Orc," he said, touching the barely healed wound with the left index finger. "I kill."

"But the orcs are with the Horde," Cassandra said puzzled. "Why would a troll kill an orc?"

"Human!" he hissed and let his arms fall, splashing into the water and making the girl jump in shock. "Dumb human!"

She did not understand his meaning, but she had a sneaking suspicion she was the human who was being dumb.

"Me hunter," he explained, the sudden rage gone. "Orc kill … animal …Hunter-animal."

"He killed the animal you were hunting?" She proposed, finding it hard to keep up with the troll's bad language skills.

"No. Orc kill… animal. Not enemy animal. Jah'ren's animal!"

It dawned on Cassandra that she was not the only one who had chosen the path of the hunter, and that to the troll it was much more than a job description.

"He killed your pet! Not enemy, but friend."

Jah'ren nodded slowly.

"Pet. Friend." He tried out the words. "Kill Jah'ren pet, say good eat. Me kill orc."

"And now you're not part of the Horde anymore, because you killed him." Cassandra was enthusiastically filling in the story, feeling this was the way it should go. "You are outlawed!"

Again her ears were filled with this strange, coarse sound of laughter.

"Dumb human," he said, showing a row of pearly white teeth. "Troll go where troll go. Horde, no Horde, no matter. Hunt, live, forest, sky… Jah'ren happy."

Cassandra though about this for a while. In a funny way it made her feel safe in his presence, knowing that they had something in common, although she still knew they should be enemies. She did not realise she was looking at the pebbles around her feet until she heard the splash as he threw himself into the river. Panic spread through her when she saw the bright blue shape speeding towards her just below the surface. Seconds later she was looking into those green eyes again. This close she noticed one of them had a white membrane over it and had she dared she would have shook her hand to see if it was blind.

Jah'ren was crouching in the water on the sandbank, a mere meter away from her. His head bent towards one shoulder, his face showing uncertainty. After a while he held one hand out to her, like trying to tame a frightened animal.

Not knowing what to do, and trembling with doubt, Cassandra placed her little hand on the palm of that large, blue one. The troll laughed again and pointed to the soap.

"Jah'ren's" he said, indicating he wanted it back.

Blushing, she quickly put the soap in his hand and gasped as his other arm shot up. To her surprise the grip around her wrist was gentle, and she would have been able to wriggle out of it if she wanted. A rough finger ran over her skin.

"Human, like water," he said, and she understood the meaning from the tone of his voice.

"Yes, I guess my skin is soft…" she smiled, still shaking from the strange terror she could not escape.

"Kas san dra smell fear." Green eyes met her a moment, before he put his nose against her skin and sniffed it. "Like animal, fear in hunt."

Now she was trembling so he could see it, but she could not stop it no matter what. All the warnings from when she was a child; all the fear they had built into her, all the stories, all the songs, adults whispering in corners, blood on the walls, evil eyes in the night, it all found it's way into her body and made her hand quiver in the grip of the troll.

_Do not go into the forest,_ old voices whispered as she looked into two green pools, one whitened like fog through a forest. _They took the farmer. The children was __**not there**__! Hear the songs of the wild people, they come with fear, they come with death, they come with evil in their eyes and hatred in their blood… Do not go into the forest, they hunt!_

"Fear," Jah'ren said, his eyes focusing on her hand. "No fear, human hunter. Jah'ren no kill. No hurt."

He circled around her, still managing to keep half submerged, and ended up behind her. She could hear the sound of his naked feet on the sand, but could not turn. The moment he had let go of her hand she had curled up on the stone, arms wrapped tightly around her body in an attempt to protect herself from whatever horrors she was certain would come.

Fingers touched the brown hair at her shoulder. It was still covered in soap and the sound of the troll smelling her hair made her insides scream in fright.

"Only fear," the calm voice said beside her ear. "Jah'ren friend, Kas san dra."

"No!" She screamed so suddenly she almost scared herself. "You are evil!"

She lunged at him, hands clawing at the face behind her, and then rapidly rolled into the water. While swimming towards the shore, lungs aching, she expected to feel the sharp pain of arrows in her back any minute. As she drew her tired body onto the bank she risked looking back and was surprised to see the troll sitting where she had left him on the sand, calm eyes resting on her, his look curious and kind.

"Evil," she said, just because she needed to convince herself.

She rushed to dress behind a bush, still keeping an eye on the motionless shape in the river. With her things hurriedly slung across her back she started running downstream, silently cursing trolls and everything they had ever done.

When night came she made no fire, but she could still see the burning houses when she closed her eyes. She ate nothing, because she was not hungry, her stomach filled with the hot rage of hatred and sorrow.

****

Hope you liked it. There is more somewhere. I just have to figure it out.


	2. Traitor

The next days Cassandra was extra alert. Small animals in the bushes made her leap in fear, and at night she slept within the branches of brambles, scared to close her eyes, but too tired not to. From time to time she scouted the other riverbank for life, and on several occasions she was certain she saw a shape; tall, thin, moving through the thick forest on the river's edge like a lion through the grass of the Savannah.

"He is hunting me," she whispered to herself one night when she could not sleep. "Playing with the game before he kills."

And then there was no more movement on the other bank. No more shadows that triggered her fear and made her remember all those horrible things, and those calm, green eyes watching her with interest.

***

It rained when she reached the bridge. Huge, heavy clouds that shut out even the tiniest speck of sky and left the world seeming grey and dull. Certain that Jah'ren had given up on his prey, Cassandra crossed over to the other side, heading for the village of Buht which should only be days away from what her map told her.

She left the road quickly after the bridge, not knowing how safe these areas were at the moment, and not wanting to draw any attention. It delighted her to be back in the forest and away from the river. The thick brambles on the bank she had been travelling were gone. Here proper trees, high and slim, covered both sides of the small paths she followed.

Dusk was starting to fall when she smelled the blood. The heavy stench of death filled her nose and when she opened her mouth to breathe the air she sucked in was thick and tinny with the taste of blood.

_You are a hunter,_ she told herself. _You are a warrior of the Alliance. You can not be afraid._

Still, her heart beat frightened and heavy as she ran silently through the trees towards the source of the smell.

At the edge of a clearing she stopped and felt how the fear ran off her again. In the grass lay the bodies of what probably would have been a raiding party meant for one of the villages nearby if someone had not already killed them. Among the corpses of orcs and trolls she spotted the smashed remains of undead, and also one white horse, with the Alliance flag draped over it. That explained it. There had long been knights patrolling the main routes between cities, but for them to stumble upon a gang like this was just luck, usually the raiding parties struck where the knights were not.

Feeling better for not finding human bodies, Cassandra carefully made her way through the battleground. As much as she wanted to deny it, she was looking for something, and dreaded finding it.

Her heart raced as she turned a dead troll over with her shoe. There was no telling what the colour of his skin was, because now it was a mixture of warpaint and blood, but his hair was green.

"You troll all look the same," she muttered annoyed and kicked the body, knowing that this was not a fact in her world anymore.

In the end of the clearing the knights had strung up several of the bodies in trees, or tied them against the trunks, leaving them helpless there while they had their fun. Cassandra tried not to see the dismembered limbs or dozens of holes where they enemy had been poked with a spear until they stopped moving. It was then she heard the sound.

She might have missed the soft moaning altogether were it not for the utter silence on the battlefield. Not even the birds were singing. She turned to find the source of the sound and her eyes fell upon a body slumped down in front of a tree with three long arrowshafts protruding from it. Beneath armour and warpaint she recognised bright blue skin, and the head hanging towards the ground was covered in dark, green hair.

"No…" she said out loud, wondering why a feeling of despair and rage filled her. "I wanted you to prove me wrong."

She cursed under her breath, wanting to scream at him for being so stupid as to prove her right in her assumptions, and at the knights for what they had done. Then she knelt down beside the moaning body, quickly deciding from the wounds that he did not have long.

"Stupid troll." She tried to ignore the tears that were filling her eyes. "Stupid, stupid…"

"Human!" said the troll, lifting his head.

The dagger scraped across her breastplate as she flung her body backwards. Although the troll did not have enough strength to get through at the first try, now Cassandra was on her back in the mud and grasping for her own dagger while he already was armed and ready to jump.

A grin spread across the bloody face. The troll knew he was dying, but he was determined to take this girl with him. The last thing he ever did was to stumble forward with his mind set to murder.

The first arrow pinned his head to the tree, and the other went into his torso and splintered the wood all the way through.

Cassandra crawled up from the slimy mud, shaking with cold and fear, when a hand took her elbow and helped her stand.

"Kas'san dra."

Not knowing what she was doing she clung to his arm.

"I though it was you. I though you had died. I though you were evil."

"Yes, Kas san dra say Jah'ren evil." She looked up at his face and was treated to a smile.

"He was of your kind. A troll. I am human."

"Soft human," Jah'ren said, lifting a lock of her hair with the tip of his bow. "Troll evil, Kas san dra soft, friend human."

"Muddy and dirty human," she said, still not knowing what to do, and still clinging to his leatherclad arm.

A sound from behind them made both hunters spin around, weapons at the ready.

"See, I told you, private," one knight said. "There would be more, coming back to loot the dead and such. Raping young women out walking in the rain…"

The other one, a young man with a keen face who could have been handsome had it not been for his pimples, grinned happily.

"Yes, sah!"

"Well," the officer continued. "I think we should go ahead and save the girl, and I'm still a bit cross at the others for killing all the trolls so quickly, they can be fun for hours…"

When hearing them talk Cassandra stopped shaking and stepped out in front of the troll by her side. The sound of his bowstring being drawn back was right by her ear, and soon the arrowtip came within sight just over her shoulder.

"Don't attack," she told the knights, ignoring the screams from her brain that she was doing the wrong thing.

"Out of the way, silly," said the officer, his voice conveying all too well his annoyance with this outcome. "We'll just kill the troll and then we'll take you safely home to wherever you want."

"No."

"You are not seriously protecting this troll? Because that would make you a traitor."

"I cannot be a traitor," Cassandra said defiant. "Not for protecting someone who just saved my life by killing one of his own kind."

The officer seemed to be considering this. Then he said:

"No, you are still a traitor if protecting an enemy." His eyes met her and he understood that he'd win nothing with threats. "Be reasonable, girl," he tried, his voice turning kind and soft. "That's a troll. He'll drag you into the forest and rape you, or keep you slave or worse! Now stand aside."

"Kas san dra," Jah'ren said. His voice steady as the ground itself even in the face of danger. "Human. Friend."

She did understand the meaning in those two simple words and was ready to follow up anything the troll would do. Despite her own sense of reason she trusted him.

The arrow left the bow and Cassandra barely saw the officer's horse rear back before she was picked up and Jah'ren started running.

Her first instinct was to protest, because she was a fast runner and besides; it felt silly dangling over the trolls shoulder, but then she realised that even rested, even at her best, she would never keep up with the speed he made.

Long, muscular legs sped them forward, jumping over whatever obstacle they met, leathery feet hitting the ground and leaving it so fast he was barely touching down. Cassandra had enough to do just hanging on. She had gotten a grip on a strap on his leather vest with one hand, and the other one flailed wildly for something to hold until she finally realised there wasn't anything else and grabbed a tuft of his hair.

Behind them came the remaining horse, its rider lying flat over the animal's neck and sword in hand. Cassandra was just about to tell Jah'ren of the threat closing in on them when he stopped. Without a sound he let her fall to the ground while turning and bringing an arrow to his bow in a single, smooth movement. As the horse screamed of pain, Cassandra was picked up again and the wild race through the forest continued.

The troll did not stop before they had run down and up again through a little stream to cover their tracks. The night already lay like a thick and wet blanket across the forest. Cassandras arms were exhausted from hanging on, and when she was let down in the shelter of a fallen tree she sighed happily from relief. The tall shape of her improbable ally collapsed beside her and to her surprise his breath was rapid and uneven.

"Jah'ren?" she asked, using his name for the first time. "Are you alright?"

"Sleep…" he mumbled. The dark shadow of the troll curled up in the shelter of the tree. "Soft, human friend."

Cassandra sat with her back against the overturned root of the tree, and decided it was her duty to stay awake and keep a lookout.

When she discovered that the large body beside her was shivering she pulled out her blanket and put it over her own legs and as much of the troll as she could cover.

***

When the sun woke her up there was the usual confusion of someone who does not quite know where and who they are and can not at once remember what happened last night. She was still laying beneath the fallen tree, carefully wrapped in her blanket and with her backpack as a pillow. On the ground beside her was one of the trollhunter's swords, she touched the metal curiously and wondered why he would leave her a sword when she was already holding on to both dagger and gun in her sleep.

While eating some dried meat and soggy pieces of bread from her pack for breakfast, the troll suddenly was beside the tree, moving so silently that it made her jump when she finally realised what the shadow outlined against the morning sun really was.

Jah'ren sniggered, obviously finding it amusing to scare her.

"Jah'ren see enemy," he reported. "On animals." Then he made a perfect impression of a neighing horse.

"Horses." Cassandra nodded. "Then they're knights. How many did you see?"

He held both hands up and seemed to be thinking. Then he shook his head quick and held the hands up again before pointing to his feet too. Cassandra had to think a bit before understanding the meaning.

"Twelve enemies? Eight fingers, four toes?" she ventured. He nodded seriously.

"Enemy not for Jah'ren," he told her, pointing towards her. "Enemy for Kas san dra."

"I know. Because I am a traitor."

"Traitor!" He spitted at the ground, apparently knowing the meaning of the word. "Why?"

"You are enemy to the Alliance, and I am a traitor for protecting you." To her own surprise this did not worry her too much at the moment. The knights could just come. She would not go back on her decision. He had saved her life.

"Protecting?" Jah'ren asked. "Me know not."

"Protecting. Like when you killed that troll, you were protecting me. Protecting my life."

The troll seemed to consider this.

"Protecting." He picked up her words like a child picking up pretty pebbles on the beach, turning them over and over in his mouth before hiding them inside his head and keeping them as treasure.

A large hand was placed on top of Cassandras head, and the troll smiled his with white, slightly pointed teeth.

"Protecting Kas san dra. Jah'ren protecting."

She could not help smiling as he helped her up from the ground, while pointing into the forest to tell her they would have to leave.

"Yes," she said. "The gods only know why, but it seems you are protecting me."

***

The forest soon gave way to marshland in the direction they walked, and Cassandra was getting more and more uncertain about where exactly they were. Her map stopped at the forest's edge, but the troll, always ahead, scouting and leading, seemed to know precisely where he was going.

"Jah'ren," she called out quietly as he disappeared behind some low shrubbery, afraid to loose sight of him in case she would be left alone in the strange landscape.

It amazed her how invisible the other hunter managed to be, even though he was at least two feet taller than her. It seemed that no matter how little cover there were in an area, the huge troll would find a way to move around without being very evident. She envied him his skills, knowing very well she was not only a young and inexperienced hunter, but also a rather bad one.

The troll came into sight from the opposite side than he had disappeared and looked questioning at her.

"Do you know where we are going?"

A smile and a nod.

"Can you tell me?"

She had learnt to recognise the expression that meant he was thinking because he knew the answer, but not how to tell her. After a while he mumbled something in trollish, and she was amazed to hear his own language for the first time. She would have expected it to be grunting or glottal sounds like the orcs used, but it sounded like a real language.

_Dumb human! _She thought. _Thinking everything you know is right. Of course it is a real language._

"We going," he said and pointed forward in the direction they had been heading for a while. "No enemy. No horse."

"The horses can't go there?"

"Yes! Not…" he hesitated, and then pointed to the ground. "Soft. Water."

Cassandras brain worked through this; soft ground, water, no horses.

"Swamp," she moaned. "We're going into the wild lands. Into the swamps."

"Wild land!" The troll delighted in words he recognized. "Yes. No enemy, no horse go in wild land."

Again this fear, imprinted in her soul since she first could speak and listen. He was leading her away from every known path, into the lands where not even the Horde had managed to find living conditions, into the wild lands where nameless creatures hunted you. The place adults of every race put into their children's heads to scare and warn. _If you won't do as your parents tell you, they take you away to the wild lands._

"Kas san dra not happy," he interrupted her thoughts.

"No, I'm not happy. We will die. Nobody can survive in the wild lands."

He seemed surprised that his plan did not get the enthusiasm he had expected.

"Jah'ren protect," he comforted. "No enemy, no traitor in wild land."

Cassandra had a suspicion the enemy was not the worst option of the two. She looked up at the greyish sky above them wondering if he would stop her if she tried going back.

"Not fear wild land. Jah'ren know."

"You have been there?" she asked astonished.

"Yes. Good land. Hunter land. No human, no orc, no troll, only sky and forest."

"But I can not go there!" she whined. "I am not a good hunter. I can't even get myself a pet. I can't track, I can't shoot well. I will die!"

Laughter filled her ears when she finished talking. Not laughter like his usual deep rumbling, but real laughter, uncontrolled, like bouts of thunder. When he stopped laughing he said nothing, but reached one hand towards her, inviting her to come.

"This is utter madness!" she exclaimed as she put her hand on his palm. "I have no idea why I'm even trusting you."

"Hunter," was his answer. "Hunt, live, forest, sky."

"Yes," she said, not knowing what she meant. "And Jah'ren protects me. Let's hope you don't get eaten."

This time he scared two large birds to flight with his laughter. Before they could get far one of them fell to the ground, an arrow through its neck.

"Great," Cassandra sighed. "The future contains dinner at least."

******

If you like it and want more, please feel free to leave a review. I like feedback.

And I'll hopefully have the next chapters up soon, but my computer does not like this site, so there's a bit of trouble with uploading. Keep those fingers crossed ;D


	3. The pain of the past

As the marshland grew wetter and gave way to strange new growth and bogs filled with muddy slime, Cassandra oddly enough was comforted by the sight of the troll ahead of her. Jah'ren moved easily between the halfhidden marshponds, never loosing his footing, and never seemingly discouraged by the waistlong grass.

The smaller human fought her way through it behind him, leaving an obvious track if someone would be stupid enough to follow them into the marsh. Since the feeling of fear was disappearing, her mind replaced it with a growing annoyance of not being able to match the other hunter abilities and dexterity. Although Jah'ren was ahead, he did not leave a single trace in the tall grass, no footprints in the mud, while Cassandra had to struggle through, the grass tearing at her clothes, its sharp edges leaving red stripes where her skin was exposed. The mud sucked at her boots, making each step heavier than the last.

"Jah'ren help?" the troll offered when he realised how much she struggled.

"No!" she hissed back. "I can do this. I'm just smaller than you, and the grass is tall!"

The green eyes sparkled humorously and before she could react she was lifted onto his shoulders, one leg on each side of his head.

"No grass," he laughed and continued walking.

"Jah'ren," Cassandra begged. "Put me down, please. I can walk!"

The troll did not answer at fist, but when he had had the time to think of a good answer, he turned his head upwards and smiled:

"Kas san dra look for enemy. Jah'ren walk. Kas san dra tell what see."

She gave in with a sigh and decided that since it seemed she was stuck with the troll she could at least teach him to pronounce her name right.

After almost an hour she gave in, letting him win with the argument that every syllable should be equally important, or at least she though that was what he meant.

"Okey," she agreed. "But you can call me Cass, since it seems we are friends. And I never knew you could pronounce the difference between a K and a C, my name is spelled with a C, you know."

"Yes, Kass," he said, and she could hear the smile in the words.

In silent protest she dangled her legs, resulting in her heels hitting his chest. He just laughed silently, his shoulders shaking a little.

****

Dusk fell before the troll stopped and lifted Cassandra down from her lookoutpoint. Within the next ten minutes, while she was rubbing the blood back in stiff limbs, he had already gathered grass and twigs to make a fire. The annoyance she had felt earlier returned even stronger when she saw the effectiveness with which he worked. Every single movement was planned and he never even moved an arm without purpose, using no more energy than was necessary for the task in hand.

"Jah'ren go wood, Kass make bird?" he asked, handing her the bird that had been shot that morning.

Cassandra nodded happily, finally getting a task she was certain she could handle. She had always been a good cook, first in her mother's kitchen and then she had taught herself new ways of cooking when she was on the road, finding the right herbs for different meat and learning which growths were eatable and which would make you sick.

"Knowing him he probably cooks like a gourmand," she muttered, still annoyed.

The anger was not directed towards the troll, but towards herself and her obvious lack of skill when he was near. These four years since she left the village and found her own path she had been training hard. She had been learning to find her way, to track and to hunt. Still, after Jah'ren had come into her life she felt like a small puppy watching the old wolf, desperately trying to match up in experience and strength. Everything she knew, all her skills and abilities which had earlier made her proud, seemed now pointless and made her want to hide in shame.

When the troll returned a pleasant smell had started to fill the air. Cassandra smiled when he sniffed curiously and mentioned he was hungry. The words of her mother when they had been baking together in the kitchen at home came back to her; "The path to a man's heart goes through his stomach".

Smiling at the memory she realised she had no intention of finding her way to the troll's heart, or if even he had one, her grasp of troll anatomy being rather shaky. She watched the tall shape fold the long legs under him and sit down by the fire, laughing inside when thinking about what her mother would have said if she knew her daughter was cooking a troll dinner.

They ate in silence, both being too hungry and too tired to talk.

Afterwards Jah'ren leaned back against a rock, sighing.

"Good food," he said, nodding contently.

Cassandra could not help congratulating herself for the meal; it had really been excellent, even though the bird had been somewhat thin and the herbs were crushed and a little soggy after a long time in her pack. She leaned back as well and felt full and safe for the first time in weeks.

Jah'ren went through one of the pouches he carried around his waist and took out a strange, black root. After taking a bite of it he handed it to Cassandra motioning her to do the same.

"What is it?" she asked, smelling it.

"Good," was the answer.

It tasted a bit like liquorice, a strong, but pleasant taste. She did not inquire more about what it was, knowing troll cuisine well enough to figure out that she might not like the answer.

They sat watching the smoke curl against the dark curtain of evening a while, chewing happily on the black root. It made Cassandra feel safe and warm and relaxed. So relaxed she forgot to be afraid and started asking the questions she had not dared to ask sooner.

"Why haven't you got tusks?" The moment it left her lips, she knew it was a stupid question. She did not even know if every troll had them, just that she had never seen one without.

"What tusks?" Jah'ren asked.

"Big teeth," she said, blushing by how stupid that sounded. She tried to gesture what she meant. "They come out here, like fangs, long teeth. I just though trolls had them…"

She watched him, trying to find any sign of anger or insult. Thoughtful eyes observed her intensely, making her blush even more.

"Tusks," he said, having trouble pronouncing the word. "Yes, troll has tusks."

"Not you," Cassandra fished, hoping to get him to explain.

"No."

The atmosphere sank a little, none of them wanting to say anything else. Then Jah'ren spoke again, slowly and without his usual cheerfulness.

"Jah'ren young hunter. Long time go now." Cassandra nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"Human." He held five fingers in the air. "Hunt Jah'ren. Hunt long, run long. Jah'ren dumb, do wrong. Human…" He searched for the word.

"Captured you?" Cassandra tried.

"Yes. Capture, rope and metal rope."

"Chains," she said, trying to keep from stopping him, but knowing how he liked to learn new words she was getting quite used to fill in the pauses and correct his language.

He lifted his hair from where it covered one ear and showed her the scruffy remains of what had once been a long, pointed ear.

"Troll hurt. Ha ha," he said, snarling.

Cassandra looked shocked at him. They had cut the long point of the ear and what was left had been torn into shreds of skin.

A finger pointed to his whitened eye.

"Human. Burn with fire."

"Is it blind?" she asked, trying to keep her voice from trembling.

"No, see little. Like water in sky."

"Like fog and cloud?"

He nodded and stroked the finger down along his cheek to the edge of his lips.

"Take tusks from Jah'ren. Many gold."

"They took your tusks and sold them!" Cassandra shivered when remembering something that had been hanging on the wall back home. Her grandfather had often told the story of how he had killed trolls in the wars, and taken their valuable tusks.

"Yes." His voice had turned sad now, like it was a painful memory. He held the left hand out towards the fire showing her the strange marks around his arm she had already noticed, but not dared to ask about. Now she could easily make out each link in the chain that had left its bite in the skin.

"Metal rope. Chain."

She could almost imagine hearing bones breaking as the chain had tightened around his arm. Fascinated as well as disgusted she touched the ruined skin before pointing at a deep scar above one eyebrow.

"And this?"

"Troll did. Fight Jah'ren."

"That one?"

The scar went from his throat and disappeared under his leather vest, thin and pale on the blue skin.

"Human. Warrior. Kill Jah'ren first pet. Long time now."

"How many scars have you got?" she asked, feeling almost drunk with the repulsion of her own race, and suddenly understanding how little she really knew about the world, and her new friend.

"Many," there was a smile this time. "Many time fight. Human, orc, troll, noliving people, tauren, elfish… many, many human. I kill."

Cassandra shivered at those words. She could not manage to speak for a while, and Jah'ren seemed to have lost all his need for conversation already. She stared into the flickering fire, trying to shut out the pictures of burning houses and embers held against one green eye.

"I…" she began, feeling something build up inside her. "I am alone."

"Alone? Only Kass?"

"Yes, alone."

He did not protest this point, although she expected him to. She drew breath quickly and decided she did owe him something for what he just had told her.

"I was in the forest, with my sweetheart."

"Sweetheart?"

"Someone you love, a friend, but more than a friend."

"Love," the troll nodded, drawing a heart in the dirt with a twig. "I know."

"We were in the forest. Talking of the future. Then he told me there was smoke from the village. And we ran home. There was an orc and Simon protected me."

"Protect," Jah'ren nodded. She hoped he grasped what she was talking about.

"He was cut down on the spot. I had a knife and jumped on the orc from behind and I stabbed him through the neck. But Simon was dead."

She closed her eyes, feeling the warmth, smelling the smoke, seeing the flames roar and eat their way through what was left of the small village by the seaside.

"They were all dead. Everyone."

"All tribe?"

She nodded, understanding he meant the village.

"All tribe, all family."

"Family?"

"Mother, father, sister, brother… and Cassandra. That is a family. Someone you love, those who give you life, and those who are with you when you grow up. Brothers that pull your hair, and sisters that steal your doll. Family."

She had decided not to cry, but the tears came nevertheless. He touched her cheek carefully, wanting to comfort, but she slapped his hand away.

"It was a raiding party. Looking for blood. There were trolls. Many trolls. I could hear their singing while I hid in the bushes. The orcs laughed, the trolls sang."

"Not Jah'ren," he said softly. "Jah'ren not kill."

Cassandra recovered from the sudden burst of feelings.

"No, you didn't. But you killed humans."

"Yes. Human fight, Jah'ren kill."

The silence closed in on the small camp again. Soon there were only the noises from the swamp on one side and the marshlands on the other. Frogs, birds, things lurking in the grass, the crackling as the last pieces of wood slowly turned into embers and ash.

Cassandra had curled up, trying to get her feelings under control, and before she knew it she fell into a strange, troubled sleep, dreaming of faces she couldn't remember anymore, places she knew better than anything, that would never be the same again. She dreamed of killing Simon in the forest thinking he was the orc, and her grandfather and some other men whose names she could not recall laughing as they burned Jah'ren and the chains cracked his bones.

She had the faint recollection of a soothing voice on the edge of dreaming, hands touching her and the soft fabric of a blanket being wrapped around her.

And then, when she awoke, she really was alone.

****

Yay! New chapter! Pleased review if you like it!


	4. Into the Wild Lands

And then, when she awoke, she really was alone.

****

This time there was no sword left beside her to assure her he would be back. There was no signs, no message, not a sound apart from the life around her waking up.

Scared awake by the solitude she was on her feet immediately, and started searching for any tracks he might have left.

"If you were him, where would you go?" she asked herself and before she could even finish the sentence her eyes were drawn to the dark, green swampforest only a few steps away.

Searching thoroughly through the grass she found what she was looking for, a damp curve in the ground, and then another. Not really footprints, but the prints of someone who walked with the purpose of not leaving any.

She did not even need time to think, but picked up her things and sat off into the dark green shadows under tall trees. Their trunks was incredibly tall and thick, the great roots keeping them up made little caverns over the swamp and supplied them with all the nutrition there were in the mud and slimy water.

Careful not to come to close to the murky ponds Cassandra made her way over moss and mud while desperately hoping the track she was following really was his. Her entire body cold with fear she shouted his name out between the trees, hearing the frantic tone of her voice and knowing he probably was miles away.

She walked until she could no longer see the light brown patch behind her that was the marsh. Then she was filled with uncertainty when thinking that he might just had gone away to scout or hunt, but looking back she saw her feet had left marks where she had walked.

"He can track me," she almost sobbed.

The sound of her voice was no comfort because it did not drown out the listening silence of the swamp, or fill the void she felt beside her. The further she had come into the forest, the more silent it became. It also became more and more difficult to move around because of the ponds. More than once she had to find a different route around them and was afraid that she would loose the precious tracks.

One time she could not find back to them after working her way around several dirty pools of deepbrown water, and almost cried in desperation. Turning towards the tall trunks ahead she shouted his name twice just in case he would be near. Uncertain and scared she stumbled on. Then her path was blocked once more. The water in front of her was more like a river than anything else, looking up and down as far as she could see, Cassandra could not discover any way to get across.

Suddenly her eyes fell on something that made her heart jump. At the muddy bank there was a single footprint, a vague mark of a troll's foot. But where he had gone was impossible to read, and Cassandra's eyes darted across the water again, in case she had missed something. A little way out into the river there was a root that went under and then up again. If she climbed out on it she might manage to jump to the other side.

Certain that Jah'ren had gone that way she hurried over and started making her way out on the broad root until it disappeared into the water. It was almost two meters out to where it came back up again, but Cassandra did not stop to think and leapt with all her strength. Seconds later she crawled safely up on the wood and sighed with relief. She was soaked from the waist down, but still intact and a little closer to her goal.

As she stood up, shakily because of the way the wood swayed beneath her weight, a ripple went through the water some meters away. Cassandra had no intentions of staying to find out what had caused it, and hurried out to the tip of the root, trying to figure how far towards the bank she would be able to jump, and realizing there would still be some meters of water when she landed.

"Jump!" she told herself, and jumped.

She splashed into the water, went under and found muddy ground beneath her feet. Scared and out of breath she broke the surface and looked into a pair of yellow, reptilian eyes.

The beast had not anticipated its prey to suddenly come up of the water and was taken by surprise. Cassandra had the moment she needed to draw her weapon and stabbed after the thing's one eye, hitting her target.

While the creature twisted in pain, she threw her body towards the bank and barely managed to crawl up on it when something grabbed her leg. Looking down she was surprised to see a strange plantlike tentacle wrap tightly around her ankle. A sudden pull dragged her back into the water so she went under. She hacked desperately at the thing with her dagger until it let go and she could get up again. Gasping for air as she surfaced she could only think one thing:

_Where are you when I need you to save me?_

The infuriated reptilian was right beside her, but with its eye filled with blood it was just trashing wildly around until it got a glimpse of the human who had wounded it, struggling through the water, now heavy with mud.

Cassandra let out a scream of fright and anger as another tentacle got hold of her and stopped her advance towards the bank. She hit the reptilian over its nose with the dagger, and screamed again, this time in rage and pain, as the tentacle almost dislocated her ankle.

Then she heard him. At first she though it was a trick of her hazy brain. But then, as she was pulled under again, she could see a flash of blue dropping out of one of the trees on the bank.

She swallowed a lot of water and kicked furiously at the thing holding her, before it unexpectedly gave in. Something grabbed her hair and dragged her up, before she was thrown onto solid ground.

Blinking through mud and dirt she saw Jah'ren standing on his knees in the river, murky water dripping from him, his swords drawn. Cassandra opened her mouth to warn about the reptilian when another tentacle shot out of the mud, got him around the neck and pulled the large troll backwards into the river again.

Laying exhausted on the bank, Cassandra flung herself forward to grab him, but he disappeared under before she even had a chance of reaching him. Her eyes desperately scanned the surface, but the only thing she could see was ripples and waves from where he had been pulled under.

Jah'ren's bow lay under the tree he had jumped from, the quiver some feet away. Cassandra struggled to her feet and managed just barely to pull the string back with an arrow on it. Looking for a target she pointed the arrow at the splashing water, but it was rather pointless and she knew it. Her gunpowder was wet and the bow so heavy it would have been almost impossible to fire it even if she had a target.

Through mud and tears she saw the flash of a sword briefly coming out of the water and then plunging down again. A moment later the thrashing in the river stopped and the surface calmed for a second before Jah'ren emerged, gasping for air, his entire body coloured brown and red from the mud and blood.

Cassandra let his bow fall and stumbled down to the bank to help. As she reached him he tossed one sword on the ground and the now free hand shot up and hit her over the face hard enough to make her head ring. She staggered sideways and fought to regain her balance, sobbing, but not because it hurt. When the ringing of blood subsided and she once again could stand straight, she turned to the troll. He had gone down on his knees leaning heavily on the remaining sword which he had jammed, blade first, into the dirt.

One look on his face told Cassandra that this was not the time to complain about being slapped. His eyes were burning angrily with a strange fire she had never seen before, but it advised her to keep her distance if she did not want another blow.

Shaking, he got to his feet and waded out into the water again. Then he grabbed the reptilian by its tail and pulled it up onto the muddy ground. Cassandra watched anxiously while he punctured the creature's throat before filling his hands with the blood. She had to turn her head away as he drank it, feeling the nausea turn her stomach.

After some minutes he was strong enough again to stand and picked up his weapons before grabbing Cassandra by the arm and towing her over to the tree.

"Blood call beast, we go, hurry." His voice was cold and angry, making her whimper in fear.

"I'm sorry," she said, trying for forgiveness.

He did not answer, but started climbing, helping her past the difficult areas without a word. They made their way over to the next tree along a thick branch, and moved through the forest high above the swamp. It dawned on Cassandra that he had not gone across the river the way she had attempted, but had started using the paths that went through the treetops, along branches and around trunks. Even exhausted he moved amazingly quick and nimble. Cassandra dared not say a word, but she noticed that there were bloody marks where he came close to the trees or touched them.

As dusk fell outside the trees it became dark as midnight beneath them. Cassandra was starting to have trouble seeing where she was going, and she could guess from the sound of stumbling feet ahead she was not the only one.

She was just about to suggest that they rested when she almost walked into the troll where he had stopped by the trunk of one especially broad tree. Some branches came together and had grown into each other so that they almost made a nest in the crown of the tree.

She helped Jah'ren to sit down, being very careful to touch him in case he was much injured.

"Now you have saved my life twice," she whispered. "If you're not careful I'll start to depend on you…"

"Jah'ren protect," he said, and she could hear the exhaustion in his voice.

"But you left." She tried not to sound like she was blaming him. "Why did you come back?"

"Kass call for Jah'ren. Jah'ren come."

She did not know what to say, but found his hand in the darkness, holding it between her own.

"You did not have to. I was nasty last night, blaming you for things you had not done. I understand why you left, it was my own fault."

"Jah'ren leave. Make Kass not happy. Troll not good for human. No good."

"But you still came back for me."

The darkness went silent. Cassandra continued holding the big hand between her, feeling a weak trembling.

"For long Jah'ren no tribe. Alone. No tribe, only Kassandra."

There were no words she could say after that. She did not even comment on the fact that he had forgotten to pronounce her name wrong. His words scared her more than she could ever tell him, and it made her feel warm and safe and cling to him. He snuck an arm around her shoulders, holding her close. They both fell asleep quickly, tired, wet and cold, borrowing each others warmth and safety.

****

As they made their way through the wild lands, Cassandra finally accepted the troll's superiority in skills, and instead of being annoyed she started asking questions, listening and learning. In return she gave Jah'ren small lections in language, and although his grammar still was horrible, his vocabulary grew every single day.

Walking on groundlevel he would point out tracks or plants, asking her to follow the tracks, or to recite the uses of growths. Since they had no idea about the names of either animals or the plants, a lot of very strange names were invented to their mutual enjoyment and much laughter.

At night, seeking sanctuary in treetops, Cassandra would find little flaws in his speech, try to explain why it was wrong and usually ending up in an endless discussion about why verbs were important when Jah'ren felt things and names were the only words that he needed to know.

One day Jah'ren finally convinced Cassandra to change her old and rusty gun for a light bow he had made for her while the rain pummelled down outside their little cave under some big roots. The next day she got practice shooting when they met a monster. When her first arrow missed, the creature charged, and Jah'ren, shouting encouragements for her to shoot, killed it off just before it was upon them when her second arrow missed.

"Sorry," Cassandra had mumbled, disappointed about herself.

"More practice!" he had laughed as he pulled his massive arrows out of the beast.

They only travelled in daylight, not even Jah'ren wanting to risk being in the open at night. He silently explained, one particularly scary evening, why the wild lands had such a bad reputation.

They had found shelter in a tall tree, as was often the case, and since he was the only one feeling at home sleeping on a branch twenty meters of the ground she sat in his lap, listening to the frightening noises outside of the leaves. She had gotten used to sleep like that, although the first nights had been hard on her, not knowing what scared her most; the height, the enormous shadows and moaning in the darkness, or the fact that her life depended on the long, muscular arms wrapped tightly around her.

That particular night there had been more shadows than usual, then screams; not humanoid, not animal. Cassandra listened, shivering in the warmness of her blanket, feeling the screams right into the marrow of her bones.

"Cursed land," Jah'ren had sighed.

Then he told her a tale of unknown horrors in the night, things no eye could see, no ear could hear, except from the huge, diffuse shadows and the tortured screams. They only came out at night, but then they killed everything in their path, something that made Cassandra sleep very badly, wondering how safe they really were in the tree.

When they needed a fire to roast the strangetasting meat from whatever creature had an unexpected meeting with Jah'ren's arrows, they had to make camp on the ground. Luckily the small cavities beneath treeroots made excellent campsites, and many a tree found their roots blackened by smoke after the nightly guests left.

One night they had camped under a tree to prepare the evening meal consisting of roasted swampcrocolisk with the remains of Cassandra's herbs as seasoning. As the small fire burned out, the thick darkness again closed around them and made Cassandra think of the things that moved somewhere out there, invisible and screaming.

Around midnight she was woken by a sound outside the tree. Scouting out in the dark she grabbed her bow and an arrow. The sound was unlike the now familiar sounds of the swamp at night, but it put her in mind of a large dog sniffing the ground.

Then it was right before her. In the dark she could see a movement where they had entered the small cave, and without a sound she reached back to wake the troll. When her fingers finally reached him he was already awake, touching her hand to let her know. Cassandra drew the bowstring tight, shaking a little by the adrenaline going through her body.

Suddenly something charged the tree, making it shake. Cassandra let out a frightened squeak as a big head, mouth gaping, rammed into the hole. Her arrow hit the creature in the tongue, resulting in it growing even angrier. She could hear the sound of a sword being drawn behind her, but it was immediately muted by a scream and then the creature was dragged backwards away from the tree. Its deathhowls went on for a few seconds, and then everything was quiet.

Stiff from terror Cassandra tried to back away from the opening, the bow dropping to the ground from numb hands. She almost cried out when she hit something, but remembering what the warm softness was she turned and grasped for whatever she could find to cling to.

Jah'ren pulled her to him without a sound.

None of them slept the rest of that night, and by morning the troll silently declared that it could be an idea to get out of the forest soon, if not for anything else then just for the sake of a good night's sleep.

***

I'm being efficient. Go read chapter 5!


	5. The sillyness of courting

A grey morning greeted them as they climbed the steep, muddy hillside and stepped out on the plains. Where the wild lands ended and the plains began they were separated by a deep cut in the landscape, as if a giant blade had been dragged from the mountains to the coast, slicing the land.

Cassandra delighted in feeling the wind on her face again and seeing the sky, no matter how grey and dull it might be. In the distance the ocean lay silvery and blinking invitingly.

She looked down her mud encrusted clothes, wrinkling her nose at the smell of them, rather evident now they were out of the swamp. She pulled something brown and slightly slimy out of the fuzz that once had been a pretty braid of nutbrown hair. Frowning she turned to the troll who was standing with his eyes closed, happily smelling the wind. She smiled at the sight and realised the embarrassment she had felt for being dirty and smelly was pointless.

Jah'ren's hair was a greenbrown mess of tangles, the kneelong trousers even shorter now than when they entered the swamp, and he had left his leather vest behind somewhere, or what remained of it after he had taken a liking to wrestling with crocolisks.

Cassandra's eyes went to the sea again, her heart feeling a longing towards that flowing silver.

"Sea," a voice said beside her. "Kassandra want to go to sea."

He smiled as he passed her, and she followed through the grass sprinkled with the colours of flowers, towards that waving field beckoning from a distance.

"_The_ sea," she complained. "_The_ sea, Jah'ren. Things get even more important if you put _the_ in front of them."

"Okey," he laughed.

She really hated when he used that word. After she had taught him it he had adapted it to mean just about anything he wanted it to. If he did not want to answer, it was all he said, and if he did not want to listen he used it. She had already regretted teaching him all the swearwords she had been able to think of one evening they were especially bored, but nothing was more vexing than the simple "Okey" he threw at her in all kinds of situations.

The discussion of _the _had been going on just as long as the one about personal pronouns. He simply refused to see the sense in calling something by another name just to make it easy.

"How you know it the same thing?" was his usual argument, and said with a tone that almost made _Okey_ a rather nice word.

She knew all too well he only argued to provoke her, because he had started using the new words anyway since it made everything easier.

Making their way down to where the plains met the seasand they did not speak much. Both were excited to be out in the fresh air without anything but the sky above. From time to time Cassandra stopped to pick some of the flowers that she recognized to have powers beyond just their beauty.

It took them no more than half a day to reach the white sands stretching northwards seemingly endless. There was still light in the sky and, Cassandra decided, time enough for a bath before tending to needs like firewood and food.

She did not even have the time to speak her thoughs before the troll threw weapons and pouches in a heap on the sand and ran out into the water. Speechless, Cassandra dropped her own bow and dagger before following him into the cold waves.

The water was chillier than she had expected, but she dived in anyway, and enjoyed the salt taste of sea in her mouth while gliding through it. Finally coming up for air she was met by a happy smile.

"Food no worry!" he exclaimed showing her the giant crab dangling angry from his fist. "Many, many … eating things."

"Crab," she said, moving out of the way as he let it go back to the oceanfloor.

"Crap bad word," she heard him say before he dived again.

Cassandra went back on land and found the soap that had been a peace offering at their first meeting. Then she found herself a little pool between a couple of stones providing a little privacy and starting taking her clothes of, washing each garment as it came loose.

Sitting submerged on an underwater rock in the pool she sighed with relief and washed her hair.

She let her head fall back and lay there, almost floating, looking at the sky and feeling the pleasure of water around her body. She was just wondering were Jah'ren might be when something brushed her leg. A moment later she was pulled under the surface only to emerge a second later, angry and blushing madly when she realised she was totally naked and he had been under the water.

"Jah'ren!" She complained. "I wanted privacy!"

The troll just looked at her with a playful look in the green eyes.

"You took my soap," he complained, smiling cunningly.

"Oh! Your soap. What happened to Jah'ren's soap? When did you begin using pronouns?"

"Jah'ren's soap." He pointed, very obviously laughing on the inside.

"Let's just get one thing clear!" Cassandra was still blushing, even more so because he did not seem inclined to avert his eyes any time soon. "When I am naked and washing I want privacy. You may not have any personal boundaries, but that does not mean I haven't got any! You can have the soap when I finish with it, because I am the woman here!"

"My soap," he whined, trying to grab it from her hand and, failing, he grabbed her instead.

Cassandra wriggled to get away, and gave up holding onto the soap when her body went weak from laughing. He let her go and looked satisfied at the soap which now was in two pieces.

"I have two soap," he grinned. "Kass have no soap." He dropped one half into her hand and laughed. "Kass have soap."

Then he turned and walked out through a gap in the stonewall around her pool, sniggering to himself. Cassandra was left sitting on her rock again, the flaming red blush spreading out from her face, her mind trying to let go of the newfound lesson she had gotten on troll anatomy.

When she returned to the beach half an hour later there was a fire in a small hollow in the sand, and one unlucky crab roasting on a stick above the flames. Jah'ren sat by the fire, working his finger through the tangled mess on his head.

Cassandra was still angry, but she found her comb anyway.

"Let me," she said kindly, standing behind him.

A grey dusk was falling over the ocean, but here and there the clouds were slowly parting, giving way to a blackening sky and twinkling stars.

While working through the knots with the comb Cassandra hummed low. The troll's hair was strange against her hands, stiff and still soft, like a horse's mane. He sat watching the clouds, trying to hum in tone with her, and not succeeding.

"I think it is a good thing you don't sing too much," she teased. "I think you are better at hunting."

"Yes."

There was a happy tone to his voice she had not expected; usually he teased her back when he got the chance.

"I bet that was why they threw you out of the tribe," she tried again. "You sing like a tortured pig."

To her utter amazement this did not even get a response. He just continued humming happily.

"Jah'ren? Have you chewed on the Black Stick again?"

He had told her the name and the secret of the black root they had been sharing some evenings when they needed some comfort. The trolls called it the Black Stick, and if you ate a whole one you would have very strange and probably psychedelic dreams pretty soon.

"No," he answered. "Just happy."

"You are weird." She laughed.

"Jah'ren always alone," he sighed. "I always live on my own. But now, tribe again. Little tribe. Little family."

Again she was filled with joy and sadness at once.

"We are a weird little family, aren't we?" she said, and then quickly changed the subject: "When is that crab gonna be done?"

"Bad word," and a grin was the only answer she got.

***

As the beach was peaceful and the sea held an almost unlimited supply of food, the little tribe of human and troll decided to stay a while.

Exploring the stone formations here and there along the sand Cassandra had found them a small cave, just big enough to shelter them from rain and wind. Some days they hunted up on the plains, where large birds made perfect targets for the inexperienced hunter to shoot at.

In the beginning she missed every time, Jah'ren teasing and laughing when her arrows were so off target she had difficulties finding them again.

"No, no!" he snorted with laughter when her arrow against all probability was caught by the wind and landed behind her. "Not that way!"

She turned to him with eyes burning.

"Shut up."

Still finding it hard to keep a straight face the troll came over to her, standing behind her as he placed one hand on each of her.

"Like this," he explained. "Feel bow and arrow, feel prey…"

Pulling the string together she could, strangely enough, understand what he meant. The arrow was suddenly in the perfect height for her to aim well, her hand no longer shaking when he supported it.

"Be strong. Be Hunter."

He moved the hand holding the bow away and held her around the waist instead, ignoring the blush spreading over her skin.

"No fear, just feel bow and arrow and prey, and shot."

The arrow flew; hitting the bird they had been aiming at through the neck and causing it to tumble towards the ground.

"Good hunter," Jah'ren smiled and patted her head when walking past her on his way to fetch their dinner.

The troll made different stationary targets for her too, and with his instructions and teasing she quickly improved both her aim and her technique. He also trained her in close combat with daggers, swords and bare fists. At eveningfall they went back to the cave, usually tired and with a few bruises, even though Jah'ren mostly managed to stay unharmed.

In the evenings, after they had eaten, Cassandra had taken on the great task of teaching the troll to read at his request. In the beginning it was just letters drawn in the sand with a stick, but each time he managed to recite the whole alphabet she took out her old storybook and read him something, stopping every now and then to show him words and explain expressions.

The book was the only thing she had managed to safe from the burnt remains of their house. Some of the pages was bloodsplattered, most of them curled and charred, or wrinkled from being too moist laying in her pack. It was not a particularly good book, but that did not matter much. The stories were all about knights wooing princesses, slaying dragons and saving the world, all in a day's work, and proved good entertainment on the beach under a starfilled sky.

Apart from the quiet complaints about there being to much love and too little blood, Jah'ren seemed to enjoy the nightly reading sessions by the fire.

One night after reading Cassandra was talked into explaining the whole business of courting to the troll's delight. They were sitting on the beach outside the cave, she on a stump of wood and he on the ground below her.

Cassandra talked of all the romantic things she could think about; flowers and chocolate and going down on one knee, ballads and poems under a full moon, and every silly notion she had ever read about or dreamed of as a girl.

"Stupid," Jah'ren laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"It's romance!" Cassandra complained. "You can't call it stupid. It's the way things are done."

"Much easier troll way," he snorted, and enjoyed provoking her.

"Well! There has to be some romance involved even there. And how do trolls express their love for each other then?"

She regretted the question immediately when he grinned widely.

"Troll see troll, say; I like you. Then carry back to cave, make baby."

Blushing and a little irritated Cassandra exclaimed:

"That's not very romantic!"

"Pract'ical," he smiled.

"Well, we humans like to have a bit of romance. No good would come from going around hitting each other over the head with clubs and dragging your love back to the cave."

"No club," laughed Jah'ren.

"Anyway," Cassandra said a little vexed. "Humans would not do that. And it wouldn't work on humans anyway. We are more refined in love."

Jah'ren looked thoughtfully into the fire before turning to her. With the back of his hand he started stroking her left leg, smiling what he thought his most charming smile.

"Jah'ren like Kass," he grinned.

"It was not a challenge," she said, kicking the hand away. "And it's not working."

Not being one to quit while having fun he put his head against her waist, lifting one arm so his fingers stroked her throat.

"Be-au-ti-ful," he purred, remembering the word from the tale about the very beautiful princess, but having no idea of how to say it.

Cassandra leaned back and curled one of her legs up to stomp the sandy foot into his cheek.

"You stop that! It's not working and either way I don't find you very charming!"

The troll chuckled and stood up, walking towards the cave.

"Some time I think Kass very much like troll princess," he said over his shoulder.

"If that was an insult, it didn't work!" she replied, poking her tongue out between her lips, trying hard not to smile.

"Not insult, other one."

"Well, it wasn't much of a compliment either." She watched him disappear into the shadow of the cave before adding: "And don't you get no funny ideas, because I'm sleeping with the dagger tonight!"

****

Yes, I know I am weird. But they are cute together. And I like writing silly stuff. Hope you like it. I'll probably write some more sillyness anyways.


	6. Human and troll

The next morning the sun was shining brilliantly down from a cloudless sky. By midday it was too warm to train and Cassandra decided she needed a swim before the heat would melt her away.

Stripped down to her underwear she waded into the waves, sighing blissfully as chilly water touched her skin.

"Don't you dare running around naked," she told Jah'ren, who was standing on the beach, putting his weapons down.

"Why not," he complained. "Kass take clothes of."

"_I_ am still decent, because _I _wear underwear."

He was too warm to argue and jumped in the water thinking the ragged trousers could need a wash anyway.

When they had both cooled down enough to have energy again Cassandra threw a handful of green seaweed over her hair and said:

"Me Jah'ren. Me big troll. Run around naked, no personal boundaries. Okey!"

He leapt at her with a roar, but she had been expecting it and was already on the beach when he reached her. Squealing of laughter she escaped a long arm grabbing for her by running under it, but he could turn in the blink of an eye and caught her by the shoulder.

"Peace!" she squeaked as they struggled, bare feet slipping on the sand.

Cassandra got herself free and kicked out against the troll. A hand flew up, grabbed her ankle and a second she was locked in that strange position, before Jah'ren, grinning madly, turned her around by the foot and wrestled her to the ground.

One hand around each of her wrists he pinned down her hands, keeping the rest of her body down with his weight.

"You are crushing me!" she said breathless. "Heavy troll!"

The only answer was a rumble of laughter beside her ear. Then Jah'ren opened his mouth to say something, but before he could a bullet hit the sand right beside them, the sound of the shot making them both jump in fright.

The troll dived away from her, rolling over the sand to where his weapons lay. As Cassandra got to her feet, looking for the attackers, he had the bow ready to shoot.

Three humans, all armed, were walking down the path from the plain above.

"Run, miss! Hurry!" one of them yelled.

Cassandra ran, but not in the direction they had expected. Before they had time to fire again she had positioned herself in front of her friend.

"Don't shoot!" she shouted as the men came closer. "We are not enemies!"

She quickly realized how the situation must have appeared in their eyes; a troll chasing a screaming girl.

The men came to a halt some meters away, still holding their guns fixed at Jah'ren. Cassandra could tell from their clothes they were farmers, probably out hunting for food or looking for an animal away from the herd.

"What goes on here then?" the oldest of the three asked.

Cassandra automatically though of him as the father, the other two young enough to be his sons and sharing the same farmer's face. The youngest was still just barely growing some strands of facial hair and Cassandra thought his brother could be around thirty, imagining them being in each end of a big flock of children as was usual for the farmers around here.

"We were training," Cassandra explained, knowing how incredibly stupid it had to sound in their ears.

"That's a troll, that is," the youngest son said, pointing with the muzzle of a rusty gun.

"Yes," she agreed, there being no point in denying the obvious. "He's my teacher."

The men exchanged a surprised glance, but did not comment on this.

"You are not from these parts then," the father asked again, taking the lead.

"I come from up at Two Silver, sir," Cassandra replied, a finger pointing north.

"Two Silver, you say?" the oldest son said slyly, spitting on the ground. "I know about Two Silver. Burned down to ashes ten years ago it did, not a single soul left alive."

Cassandra stared at them, trying to figure out if she should stick to the truth or make up something easier to believe.

"No," the father told his son thoughtfully. "My brother went up there to help burry the dead, and I remember him telling of a young girl, the only survivor of the entire village. You have the right accent for a Two Silver girl."

Cassandra just nodded, trying to think about what to do next.

"Even if she would be that girl, she wouldn't be with one of them," the oldest son commented. "They killed her village."

"Not Jah'ren," Cassandra said. "He wasn't there."

"It's still a troll," the youngest one squeaked, obviously being in that difficult age when a boy's voice goes everywhere at once. "It's still one of them."

"She was the miller's girl," the father said, watching her intensely.

Cassandra spotted the trap.

"My father was a smith," she said. "William the Smith. They called him Smithy. He made the best kettles for miles around."

The older man nodded slowly.

"It's her alright. I remember that William and his kettles. Old mother still swears by one of Smithy's finest creations. But what are you doing travelling with one of the wild people, girl? Have you no sense?"

"Have you forgotten?" his son shot in. "Can't you remember what they did? Look at its eyes, the evil in them."

"Don't call him that!" Cassandra snapped. "I remember well enough. Better than any of you. I was there, I saw what they did. And I hated them, until the day my life was saved. Until one of their kind protected me. Until there was someone willing to give his life for mine."

She put a hand on the bow beside her and urged him silently to lower it. As he did he snuck the left hand around her waist, holding her possessively.

"Still," the father said. "Still, it is not right. We had word from down at Buth just the other week, telling of a traitor and a troll going into the wild lands, after killing two knights."

"Kill?" Jah'ren growled. "Shoot horse, kill no human!"

The men stared at him, clearly shocked to hear their own language from his mouth.

"It's true," Cassandra said calmly. "We shot two horses, but killed no knights. They branded me traitor for protecting him. But he killed one of his own kind to save my life. You can't tell me that is fair."

She knew there was the chance that Jah'ren had killed someone while she was sleeping, but she trusted him enough to believe he had not.

"But it's not right," the oldest son protested again. "Human and troll. The wild people are a fierce and foul race. They are on the other side of good. It's not right."

"We are hunters," Cassandra said. "We don't care about sides. And besides; not many humans choose to be hunters. I need someone to teach me."

She could see the doubt in their eyes, she could read their faces. It was still not right. She had thought the same every day for weeks, there was something not right.

"I have learned," she said uncertain. "I have seen things and heard things you would not believe. And I have found there is no black and white; there are just people, of different colour and different race, and there is evil in them all, and there is good in them. And you choose yourself what to be."

After a long and uncomfortable silence the father nodded again.

"I think you might be crazy, but I also think you are right." He sighed. "We will not report you to the knights I think."

"Father!" the sons began, but they were shushed by a raised hand.

"But I will give you an offer," he continued. "You come back with us now, to the village. There is always a use for a hunter or fighter… or wife. Nobody will be any wiser about where you come from and where you have been. Nobody will report you. That way you can live among your own kind again. We'll let the troll go back to wherever he came from and things will be right again."

Cassandra looked at their plain, dirty clothes, the smell of farm life and humans starting to haunt her memories, making her long for home.

"It's a tempting offer," she said, noticing a slight shiver in the arm holding her. "But I cannot accept it. This is my tribe."

She placed her hand on Jah'ren's, her eyes daring the men to protest.

"My heart is saddened to know that," the father told her. "I will keep my word not to report you if you leave this place. Head northwards along the shore and away from the villages and you will be safer than on the roads."

She thanked him and his sons, both of them still looking angry, and watched them turn to leave.

"Also," the man added. "Stay on guard. There has been said to be a band of troll setting up camp close to the shore. They might not be of the good kind."

He gave them both a nod, and headed up the path again.

"Kass want to go with human," Jah'ren said, pulling his hand to him. "Go live with human, man right."

"Idiot," she said and stomped her heel on his foot before going back to the cave to pack.

He caught up with her quickly and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Kass. Jah'ren mean it. You want to go. I know."

When she turned around he was surprised to find her eyes full of tears.

"Pack your things, stupid," she said, her voice shaking. "I lost my first family. I am not giving up on this one."

They left at once, doing as the man said and headed north. South would only lead them back into the wild lands, and east over the plains would eventually end in tall mountains with dwarfen cities. No troll with their sense intact (a point which actually could be discussed in Jah'ren's case) would go near the dwarfs. West lay the ocean, too wide and dangerous to try to cross in anything but a large ship. So north it was.

They did not hurry, but strolled lazily over the sand dunes.

"Two Silver?" Jah'ren finally asked. "That where we going?"

"We will pass it, if we keep to the beach all the way. But I don't mind."

The troll became silent a while, Cassandra could sense something was bothering him.

"What is it?" she asked after almost thirty minutes of silence, which was unusual for Jah'ren. "I can feel something's on your mind. Tell me."

"Not angry?"

"What should I be angry for?"

"No, not get angry. Jah'ren tell Kass, not get angry?"

"I can't promise if you won't tell me…"

Again silence. She was worried, this was not like him at all.

"Jah'ren been here before."

Cold fear went down her spine.

"When?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"Long time. Jah'ren not know."

"Long time? Ten years maybe?" she could not stop herself from mumbling.

"Maybe. Jah'ren young then."

"And maybe you were with a raiding party and burned a village?"

"No. Never did that."

She knew he was insulted, but was too upset to apologize.

"But Jah'ren kill man. Paladin. Very strong, very big…"

"With a lion on his shield and a sword with a blue blade?" Cassandra asked, her voice distant.

"Maybe."

"That's a yes?"

"Yes, maybe."

Ten years ago there had been a man like that. Cassandra closed her eyes a moment and tried to think that it would not have mattered anyway, but an angry little voice told her it could have mattered.

"He was the paladin assigned to protect our village. He was found dead after the fire, a long way from the village. I saw the body. I still remember how they wondered how many he had fought, all those cuts. Had he lived he might have sent a warning, he might have fought the raiders, but he did not, and the village burned."

"Jah'ren sorry," he whispered, pain in his voice.

"It doesn't really matter," Cassandra said. "If and buts won't make them alive again. It was a very long time ago, and you were young and, knowing you, I bet you probably struck your swords through anything that moved."

"Maybe…"

She looked up at him, sighing.

"If you're going to tell me anything else about you hanging around our village when it was burned you better do it now while I am in my nice mood."

"I ate a poison plant and was very bad. And I killed one Baa, and ate that one too, but it was good. No more."

"You ate a sheep and a poisonous plant? Well, I forgive you. Just don't do it again, at least the poison part."

After he had gotten what bothered him off his mind he was once again his usual, cheery self. He nagged her into telling the story of the patch of land where two rivers met that was sold for two pieces of silver, and thus earning the village a name that would last for generations. That is; up to the day a raiding party burned it to the ground.


	7. Jah'ren's pet

They made their way north towards the dead village with the funny name. Cassandra did not know how far they would have to go, and what they should do after they had come there was not even discussed.

"We'll see when we get there," she told the troll. "Continuing north would probably be best."

At night they slept wherever they found shelter, and walked as long as there was light.

The second evening, as dusk was falling, Jah'ren stopped and sniffed the air a long time.

"Bad," he mumbled. "Bad smell."

They had the wind from behind, and the experienced hunter did not like the fact that there suddenly had appeared a new smell in it.

"Something behind us, not there long, " he said, looking back at their footprints in the sand. "Kass ready for fight?"

She was just about to ask why a smell in the wind would trouble him this much when she noticed a movement in the corner of an eye; a tall, skinny shadow under the rockface beside the beach. Then she remembered what the farmer had told them about trolls setting up camp.

A bird called, but to her keen and now also alert ears it was evident that it was not just any bird. Jah'ren called back, mimicking the sound. Some minutes she watched him fascinated as he seemingly communicated with the fake bird somewhere ahead of them.

The first troll that came out of hiding was only few meters away, in a bush Cassandra never had thought could conceal a bunny. And then the beach was filled with them, moving silently with their weapons drawn.

In a matter of minutes they had the couple surrounded.

"Kass not talk," Jah'ren whispered urgently. "Do as I say."

She nodded, trying to keep as close to him as possible. The trolls circled them until a big, greyish one stepped through the circle and spoke.

Cassandra could not do anything but watch and listen as Jah'ren and the other troll talked in their strange, slightly rhythmic language. After some minutes the other troll seemed to get annoyed, and then he tried to grab her arm. Before he could even touch her Jah'ren had the other's arm in one hand, snarling through bared teeth.

There was a rustling of weaponry from the circle around them, and the grey troll pulled his arm back, grinning, but flames raging in his eyes.

An angry discussion later they were herded from the beach and up to a little hilltop where two tents stood.

Jah'ren came close to Cassandra, keeping his voice low when he spoke.

"You are my pet. Do not speak. Do what I tell you."

"I am your pet?" she asked, not able to let something like that pass without an explanation.

"Yes. They have respect for hunter, not kill you. Trust Jah'ren."

She nodded, hoping he had any idea what they were getting themselves into, because being surrounded by these trolls did not make her feel safe in any way.

There were more trolls up in the camp, all of them staring at Cassandra with eyes full of hatred and wonder as she passed them. For the first time in her life she saw the female trolls, and realised they were no less armoured or armed than the male tribes members. Every troll in the camp had warpaint on, and Cassandra pined for a chance to ask Jah'ren why, as well as what they were doing there in a country filled with the Alliance's soldiers.

The large grey troll at the head of the group spoke to the whole camp, waving his arms in the direction of the strangers. Immediately after a tall female came out from one of the tents, a heavy axe slung across her back. Cassandra regretted giving up talking Jah'ren into teaching her some of his language, because she would have given an arm to know what the heated word exchange that followed was about.

Then the argument seemed to be over. Jah'ren motioned towards Cassandra with a hand and spoke with one of the female trolls who were preparing food by a fire. Then he turned to her and whispered.

"Stay with this troll. If some hurt you or you afraid, call for me. Jah'ren come."

"Where are you going?" she asked desperately.

"I come back. No fear. Okey."

"No, not Okey," she said, but all she got was a firm look and a nod.

Watching him disappear into the tent on the other side of the camp she grasped her dagger tightly and tried not to look as scared as she felt.

"Be strong," she told herself.

The troll at the fire motioned Cassandra to sit. She did, cautiously and with one hand still on her dagger. More trolls closed in around her, but carefully not to get too near.

At first she though they were guarding her in case she would do something, but soon she discovered the curiosity in their eyes, reminding her of how Jah'ren had first looked at her, as if she was some strange, exotic animal they suddenly found a chance to study.

The female by the fire seemed a little different from the others, there was no warpaint on her and she was less armed than the rest of her tribe. Cassandra watched, trying to look interested, as she threw ingredients into a large boiling pot on the fire.

A slim female troll almost crawled up beside them, stretching one hand towards Cassandra and, touching her shoulder carefully, pulled back to the rest of the flock. Cassandra heard her tell the others something in a voice filled with amazement and pride.

Then the one she now thought of as the cook spoke, the younger trolls around them listening politely. This comforted Cassandra slightly, because it was obvious even to her that the cook had respect and Jah'ren had told her to stay with the female troll.

A greenblue hand stretched out and touched the human's braided hair warily, before the troll leaned forward to smell it, reminding Cassandra so much about Jah'ren she almost shouted for him.

_Nobody has hurt you,_ she thought, trying to keep brave although she could feel the old fears nagging her. _They are curious. Like him. Soft, strange human._

Knowing she could just open her mouth and scream to have him there again comforted her and made her braver.

The Cook released the braid, stroking the tip of it thoughtfully while speaking softly. Then she touched the fair skin of Cassandra's cheek and looked intensely up into brown, human eyes.

"Patho," Cassandra heard her say as she pointed at her chest.

Then she made a gesture with a hand towards the human, clearly wanting her to say something.

"Uhm," Cassandra said, not certain of what the troll meant.

"Patho," she said once more drumming softly on her chest with her fingertips. "Patho."

Then she motioned to Cassandra again, who finally caught on and forgot she had been told not to speak.

"Oh, I am Cassandra," she said relieved. "Cassandra."

She put a hand to her own chest and heard a gasp of awe go up from the trolls around them. If it was because she did something wrong, because of the name or because of the fact that she had understood and spoken she did not know.

"Kas san dra," Patho mimicked, almost making Cassandra laugh.

Then the cook motioned towards the far end of the camp and within the flow of words that followed Cassandra recognized one word.

"Yes, Jah'ren," she said. "I understand that."

"Jah'ren." Patho said again looking intently at the human.

Cassandra nodded, wondering what she was nodding for, because she had not understood what the troll wanted to say. The cook nodded back, and turned her attention towards the food again.

Another troll from the group around them came forward, again a female. This one was naked from the waist up and Cassandra tried not to look at the swirling patterns of warpaint over her breasts. She suddenly realised why her friend had no shyness or respect for personal boundaries. The female squatted down beside her, encouraged by quiet catcalls from the rest of the young trolls.

Cassandra managed to keep her body from shivering as the troll patted her hair curiously.

"Ka sa dra," she said, pointing a blue finger at Cassandra's face. Then she motioned to herself. "Te'tahn."

"Te'tahn," Cassandra nodded, again getting a hum of awe from the crowd.

In the half hour Jah'ren was gone, Cassandra had learned the names of a dozen trolls, getting gasps of wonder and sometimes waves of laughter when she could not pronounce them.

She had just learned the name of the first male that had dared come close, the females seeming much braver and more interested, when Patho touched her arm and pointed towards the tent.

"Jah'ren," the troll said.

All sound died down throughout the camp and when Cassandra turned around she understood that something was happening.

Jah'ren and the large grey troll he had been arguing with walked into the open space in the middle of the camp. They were both naked but for a loincloth, and the swirling patterns of paint on their bodies made Cassandra cold with fear. She noticed that Jah'ren had painted some of the letters of the alphabet on his arms, mostly upside down or the wrong way around.

He turned and gestured her to come over.

"What is going on?" she asked nervously.

"I fight Katan," he pointed at the other troll.

"What?" Cassandra exclaimed. "Do you have to?"

"Yes."

"But why? The trolls seem nice enough; they have been telling me their names and trying to talk to me."

"Katan son of chief. Not respect Jah'ren. I fight."

"That is what you are fighting for? Respect?"

"No." He suddenly took her head between his hands and looked down into her eyes. "We fight for you."

"For me?" she squeaked, blushing from the way he held her.

"Yes, for Kassandra."

"But why?"

"Katan want Jah'ren's pet. Jah'ren say no. We fight for you."

The large female from earlier, the one carrying the axe, came towards the two fighters. She was holding a couple of curved, crude knives, and Cassandra understood all too well.

"Jah'ren, you can't fight him!" she whispered scared. "He's bigger than you, and there's knives!"

He gave her another stern look.

"Do you want be Katan's pet?"

"No!"

"Then Jah'ren fight."

Cassandra opened her mouth to protest again, but before she could he grabbed her and pulled her to him.

"Listen!" he said, voice filled with something resembling fright for a moment. "Jah'ren lose, you try run, or take dagger… Understand? Die is better. Okey?"

She nodded against his chest, understanding, but not wanting to.

"What happens to you if you lose?" she asked, panicking slightly.

"Jah'ren lose, Jah'ren die."

Clinging to his arms Cassandra looked up at his opponent. Katan was a little taller than Jah'ren, and had arms like treetrunks, not being of the slender kind of troll. He looked more like an orc than a troll she thought, big muscles bulging under the greyish skin. When he saw her watching him he grinned pleased and nodded, obviously sure of himself and already anticipating his victory.

"Jah'ren, please don't fight," Cassandra whispered as he tried to push her away.

She held on to his arms with all the strength she could muster.

"Kass let go. It Okey."

"No, it's not okey. There has to be another way. Don't fight. Please."

He ignored her begging and pried her hands off him. Then he bent down and put his cheek against her.

"Okey," he whispered. "It Okey."

Cassandra fought half-heartedly against a troll who towed her away from the two fighters. She was held firmly by slim, blue arms, and catching a glimpse of the face of her guard she remembered the name of Te'tahn.

Then the song began. At first it was just a rhythm from troll drums, but soon the trolls joined in, shouting and clapping hands against their chests. Cassandra stared at the two trolls in the middle of the circle and the curved knives on the ground between them. Jah'ren stood in his normal relaxed way, but she could read his face well enough to know he was concentrating hard, waiting, studying the enemy.

Katan just stood there grinning, looking like he found the whole affair boring and he could not wait to defeat this annoying opponent and claim his prize.

_Don't be so smug,_ Cassandra thought, trying to comfort herself and knowing what strength there was in the slim troll Katan was expecting to crush. _You have not seen him wrestling beasts barehanded because that made everything more fun. _

The shouting and drumming reached a crescendo and then, for a split second, it was all very quiet. Katan dived for the knives and the drumming started again, now picking up the rhythm of the way the opponents moved.

Jah'ren had not gone for the knives, but let the other one attack first. He dodged the first assault and then the second one, making Cassandra hold her breath in anticipation.

She had been taught to read his movements through endless training sessions and knew what this pattern meant. He had used it against her more times than she could count.

_Dodge, look like you are attacking, then dodge, look uncertain._ She almost smiled recognizing the way he deliberately moved his eyes telling the opponent he was looking for an opening and not finding any. _Dodge, kick, wear out your enemy, he cannot fight when frustrated. And soon you know the way he moves. _

Katan was getting frustrated, but he was also a very skilled fighter, and he had the height, weight and weapons on his side. Jah'ren darted from side to side, moving like a dancer in a strange, rhythmic dance without choreography, long arms hitting and missing, assuring Katan he was in control.

Cassandra was waiting for it, so she could see it coming when suddenly the dance shifted. Jah'ren moved quickly, flowing like water past the big troll and before Katan knew what was happening there was one less knife in his hand. Cassandra exhaled heavily, aware that she had not been breathing in a while. And then she saw Katan spin, faster than she would have thought his size would allow, and the remaining knife cut Jah'ren across the face.

Cassandra closed her eyes, and opening them she saw her friend spitting angrily on the ground, his eyes now aflame with rage.

Katan was grinning madly, but Cassandra knew it would be stupid of him to think he was winning; the fight was still just beginning. She had once seen two male lions fight over a waterhole and this fight reminded her of them. Both trolls were snarling at the other, teeth bared and eyes burning with pure, hot rage.

The grass under their feet soon was trampled and slick with blood. Jah'ren had no deep cuts, but he had managed to stab Katan in the side, a gaping wound that bled good and made the big troll hurrying to finish things. His pain made him unfocused and a wellplaced kick from Jah'ren made his knife fly away into the crowd, where it hit a watching troll in the foot.

Unarmed, Katan was not so sure anymore. His movements became irregular and he was taking risks.

Jah'ren, seeing his opponent struggling, straightened up and threw his own knife into the ground before Cassandra's feet.

She though it was a stupid gesture, but the trolls nodded contently and shouted even more. Then Katan charged. Jah'ren met the attack and grabbed the other troll by the throat with one hand. Their fists pounded on each other and Cassandra moaned when she imagined hearing the crush of bones breaking.

Katan lost his footing a second and Jah'ren's fist hit him straight in the nose. His other hand was still at his opponent's throat, knuckles almost white from the tight grip. Katan's feet scraped wildly over the bloody grass, but found no foothold. Flailing his arms in a last attempt to hurt he lost balance and fell backwards, Jah'ren coming down on top of him, not releasing his grip, not stopping the beating.

In a matter of seconds Katan stopped moving and the female with the large axe, who Cassandra had understood was the tribe's leader, shouted something above the din that made the tribe cry in unison.

Jah'ren stood up, breathing heavily. Te'tahn let Cassandra go and gave her a push in the back, making her stumble out in the circle of flattened grass. When Jah'ren turned to her and smiled she ran across the few meters between them, jumping into the air. Strong arms caught her as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Don't ever, ever, ever do that again," she sniffled into his hair, pressing her cheek to his and smearing blood all over her face in the process.

He was shivering from the exertion of the fight, but she would not let go of him, her arms locked around his neck.

"No. Not again," he moaned. "Kass Jah'ren's pet."

She laughed, squeezing her cheek to his even harder.

"Try calling me that again and see if I kick you somewhere it hurts!" she threatened.

****

Oh, he just wanted to be awfully heroic. He likes it. The next chapter will contain sillyness again.


	8. Jealousy and denial

Shortly after the fight ended, night fell over the camp. Cassandra helped wash and dress Jah'ren's wounds and when they came back out of the tent the trolls had prepared a feast in his honour.

They were led to the chief who made what Cassandra imagined to be a short speech about her friend's bravery and commenting on the fight. Then Katan, bandaged and bruised, came to kneel in front of them. Jah'ren put his hand on the other troll's head and grinned while he spoke softly. The tribe listened quietly and when he finished a shout of approval went up from the camp.

Some minutes later, as she sat down beside Jah'ren in the circle around a huge fire, Cassandra asked about it.

"Me not kill Katan. Him good fighter. No point kill. Tribe like Jah'ren."

"I've noticed," she said. "And they seem to like me too."

His eyes got something serious over them as he leaned down to speak to her.

"If Kass not with Jah'ren, they kill. Kass be careful, not trust. You still human."

She did not like the way he said it, the trolls seemed so nice and pleasant, but she knew there probably was more truth in his words than she would like to admit. As she was considering what he had said two young male trolls came over to them.

They crouched down to speak with Jah'ren who immediately shook his head. One of the trolls held out a hand to stroke Cassandra's cheek and got told off with a growl from Jah'ren. The troll smiled to Cassandra and patted her head softly. Then he turned to her friend again, obviously asking for something, but when Jah'ren just shook his head again, this time quite angrily, the two gave up and went away.

"Come sit," Jah'ren told her and pulled her arm.

Cassandra was already sitting by his side and did not understand what he meant until he lifted her into his lap. He was sitting with his legs crossed so that between them and his arms she was surrounded by a little cave of security.

"I was perfectly good where I was," she protested. "Nobody has hurt me, and I can't see what you're being so awfully protective about."

On the other side of the camp she caught the eye of the young male who had patted her head, he grinned at her while talking to his friends, who laughed.

"What exactly did they ask you?" she asked, feeling her suspicion raise.

"Nothing."

"I saw you tell them off. What did they want?"

Jah'ren sighed and placed his hand over her mouth.

"Nothing. Stop talk. Jah'ren head hurt."

After a while there was drumming and some of the young trolls danced in front of the fire. Cassandra kept silent at Jah'ren's request, because, as she reminded herself again and again, he had just put his life on the line to keep her safe and out of harm.

When the dancing stopped they were brought a large tray with different food in it. Several of these were distributed among the circle of trolls, and as the chief started eating, the rest of the tribe followed, reminding Cassandra of the goats at home, where the dominant goat always was the one to start.

She looked eagerly down at the fruit, fish, meat and trollbread. Earlier she had watched Patho make the bread, a kind of flat, round disc of dough that had been fried. The smell of food made her very hungry and she was reaching for a piece of meat when a large hand stopped her.

"Not meat," Jah'ren warned.

"Why? You are eating it," Cassandra complained.

She had eaten a lot of strange things since she met him and if she could eat his crocolisk gumbo, she figured she could eat anything.

"Not meat for Kassandra," he answered, shaking his head. "Eat fish."

She opened her mouth to protest again, too hungry to be obedient, and then a thought struck her.

"Oh, gods. It's not human, is it?" she whispered terrified.

"No," Jah'ren said, but there was hesitation in his voice. "This horse." He held up a piece of dark meat. "Kass like horse live, not dead."

"Yes," she agreed. "And the other meat?"

"Is other thing. Kass eat fish, not talk."

"I would like to know what it is all the same, thank you," she said, beginning to feel strangely suspicious against the tempting meat. "And you _are_ eating it."

He did not answer, making it apparent that he wanted her to stop asking by placing a fine piece of fried fish in her hand.

"If it's not human, is it humanoid?" she asked, not being able to let it pass.

"Maybe."

"That means yes when you say it." She shivered by the thought. "Tell me. Please."

"Will you stop asking?"

"Yes."

"Little things, live in ground."

"Dwarf? Gnomes?"

"No. Other thing. Now Kass eat."

She gave up and chewed her fish thoughtfully while trying not to picture goblins or gnolls roasting.

After a while the dance and drumming started again, trolls always living in the moment and therefore not being inclined to pass up a chance of having fun. Cassandra watched the bodies move, it was beautiful and at the same time not like anything she had ever seen. It reminded her of the way Jah'ren moved; like there was this rhythm inside his head he was following, only audible to his ears.

There were so many things she wanted to know about the trolls, and so many questions about their way of living, but she knew she had to wait to ask them. Jah'ren was talking to a small group of trolls that had gathered around them. To Cassandra's displeasure they were almost all female. Although they had been nice to her earlier she started disliking them the second she recognized signs telling her that though her friend might think troll flirting was all easy and practical, that was only from the male point of view.

Te'tahn, who Cassandra had found pleasant earlier, now got a sour look from the girl when she laughed, over thrilled by something Jah'ren had said, and touched his hair in what he probably thought an innocent way, but Cassandra recognized flirting when she saw it.

_You can't feel jealous. Because that would mean you like him,_ she desperately told herself, realizing it was incredibly stupid to act the way she did.

She tried convincing herself she was only concerned with her friend's wellbeing and the fact that she would not like him to leave her alone with the tribe, but in her heart the fire of frustration still burned every time one of them inched closer.

Trying to look like she was just moving out of an uncomfortable position she turned in his lap, sitting with her back against one bent leg and snuck her arm around his waist. The grin she got made her even angrier than before, but the arm he lay around her shoulders comforted her nonetheless.

She could feel the gaze of the female trolls upon her and then they all laughed as one of them evidently made a joke. Jah'ren laughed too, looking down at Cassandra with a humorous sparkle in the green eyes.

"What?" Cassandra asked, feeling very left out.

"She say; How we get you come sleep with us if human not let go?"

He obviously found this incredibly amusing and laughed again. Cassandra did not, and clung to him, her mind a blaze of fury and shame. Turning her head away from their eyes she pressed her face against his chest, knowing it would be too disgraceful to cry, but barely managing not to.

To her surprise he wrapped his arms tightly around her, lifting her up so she was sitting on his thigh, and let her lay her head against his shoulder. The female troll who had made the joke commented and got a giggle from the others. Jah'ren turned to her and said something, his voice firm, making all of them give Cassandra a nasty look.

In the next minutes the group dispersed, most of them joining the dancing around the fire.

"Kass said Jah'ren not charming..." he commented, still amusing himself at her expense.

"You're not." She could hear how bitter her voice was, like a child who got laughed at for not knowing better.

"Oh, not charming," he teased. "Kass still hold and be angry on girl troll."

"I just don't want to be left alone," she protested. "You were going to let them drag you off to the cave or wherever, and I would be alone with all these scary trolls."

"No, Jah'ren not go without Kass."

"Well, I am not coming either!" she said, shocked.

This got a laugh and he patted her head affectionately.

"Not what Jah'ren mean," he chuckled. "Kass not worry. I no go away."

This only made her feel worse. She knew she was acting spoiled and selfish; of course he would want to go with them, they were his kind, and they apparently adored him.

"They certainly seem to like you," she said, trying to regain her self-control.

"Yes," he sounded pleased. "They say all troll in tribe stupid, boring. I fight Katan, they say Jah'ren big warrior. Like Jah'ren. All troll in tribe young and stupid. Jah'ren fighter, woman troll like fighter."

"So they like you because you are old, can fight like crazy and has more scars than skin," she teased, her mood approving by the second.

"Yes. Not like that in human?"

Cassandra thought a while, and she had to admit it probably was just the same with humans. There certainly was something about a man who had lived and had the scars to prove it, something in the way he moved, how he talked, how he looked so knowing. She knew very well how a young girl's heart beat when a rugged warrior walked past.

"A little," she confessed.

"Jah'ren think so. And Jah'ren is that. Troll woman like."

"You know," she said, looking at her fingernails. "I would probably be okey by myself for a while. I can find Patho, she would look after me."

He did not answer, and even though she hated the fact that he probably was considering it, she had meant it.

"I mean. They are your kind, and they like you very much, and I feel bad for being in the way."

Still getting no answer she looked up at him. He was staring at the fire and the dancing shapes around it.

"No," he told her eventually, without taking his eyes from the twirling mass of bodies. "Long ago Jah'ren danced, Jah'ren go with the young girls. Not anymore. Tribe go away, Jah'ren not belong anymore." She felt his grip on her tightening. "This tribe not Jah'ren's. It belong to Katan and Pakhen and other troll. Not Jah'ren. Jah'ren alone."

"You have me," she reminded him. "And I'm your friend."

"Kass is human. Not troll. Jah'ren alone inside Jah'ren. No more troll there."

She understood what he meant, and felt sorry for him, but at the same time she knew she was beginning to be the same. Every day she moved more away from being human, not becoming like a troll, but becoming more and more herself, feeling bonds like kinship and connections of race break and wither.

"I know," she said, leaning her forehead against his chin. "We are a pair of fucked up weirdos."

"Bad word," he commented.

"Not necessarily," she laughed, but felt no inclination towards explaining that to him.

She yawned and watched the flickering shadows against the brightness of the fire until her eyes gave in to tiredness.

Jah'ren held onto the small shape, now soundly asleep, like his life depended on it. His gaze was fixed longingly at the dance, his body feeling the pull of the rhythm, his mind craving to be one of them again. Cassandra moaned and shivered slightly. He clutched her to his chest, knowing she was not only his excuse for not belonging, but also his shield against it.

Cassandra slept heavily and had strange dreams that night. She dreamed of a large, blue horse that was carrying her across the sky while it was whistling a lullaby her mother had used to sing to her. She thought she could hear voices, hushed voices, talking in trollish, and then the horse carried her again, past stars and galaxies and the moons and the suns and to other worlds.

Then the horse started running downwards, and she told it not to go so fast, because she was scared.

She also noticed she was young again, just six years old, with her pigtails and that charming little voice she knew how to use to the point where even the grumpy old hermit who lived outside the village would give her an apple if she asked nicely.

The horse ran and ran and then it turned its head and she saw it had green eyes, one of them whitened, and it said:

"You are such a silly girl. If you don't want to come, why don't you jump?"

And she would have, but it was going so fast, and she could not see anywhere to jump to. Afraid to fall off she held onto the horses green mane as it fell towards an ocean of red.

On the thin border between sleep and waking she still felt like the horse was carrying her, and forced her eyes open only to find that she was right.

Her head was hanging over Jah'ren's shoulder, arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Realizing the dream had been more than a stupid allegory of her life at the moment, but also somewhat true, she loosened her fingers from where they were tangled in his hair.

"Good morning," he said, stopping to let her down.

"Where are we?" she asked, still confused. "What has happened? Where are the trolls?"

"We leave in night. Patho say; Go! Or Pakhen, chief, not let go. They want Jah'ren to come to tribe, need warrior."

"But you could have stayed." It was the only thing she could think of to say.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But not want to. They fight. Not live like me. And Kass could not stay."

"But won't they come after us?"

"Not." He stretched, back creaking. She wondered how long he had been carrying her. "Patho sister to Pakhen. She say Jah'ren and Kass go. Hurry go, or Pakhen not let go."

She nodded gravely. The chief of the tribe had seemed like a strict and unpleasant woman, even more so when she had to see her son defeated by this strange troll who walked into her camp from nowhere with a human by his side. Patho had been right, they had been wise to leave while they had the chance, and she suddenly felt a huge relief to be away from the tribe.

"Have you carried me all night?" she asked, trying to massage the blood back to her limbs.

"You sleep, trolls dance. I go talk to Patho, she tell me leave, gave me weapons back. Say; Take you little human child and run. I run, and then tired, and walk."

There was a new tiredness in his face, exhaustion, but also something else. Cassandra took his hand carefully.

"You want to rest? I can stand guard and you can sleep a little."

He shook his head and told her he could go on.

"But you were much wounded yesterday. You look tired."

"Kass good, but no, I can walk. Wounds okey."

Deciding there were no point in arguing with him she continued to hold his hand as they walked. He was silent and looked tattered and thoughtful.

"What was that they called you?" she asked, trying to keep him from thinking of whatever it was making him sad. "Karne Patcho?"

"Kath'arn e partho," he said, and she loved the sound of his voice when he spoke his own language. "It mean I am wild one. It mean One without home."

"Oh," Cassandra said, accidentally discovering the reason for the sober look. "I thought it meant you were a great warrior or something. I'm sorry."

"No worry. I know I am Kath'arn e partho. A wild one."

"You are not particularly wild," she smiled, trying to lighten his mood. "You are actually getting quite tame, and I think with a better hygiene you'll make an alright pet."

She poked her finger into his ribs and remembered some of them were broken just a moment to late.

"You my pet," he smiled, but with teeth clenched from pain. "And not touch there."

Apologizing, she took his hand again.

"Wild one mean I have no tribe. Mean I am traitor in troll ways. Mean I can not go back to homeland."

"But why? What happened to your tribe?"

"Tribe kill Jah'ren."

She waited for something more, but when he said nothing she could not let it be:

"You are not dead, so they can't have killed you. What do you mean?"

"Jah'ren say; No good in Horde. Chief kill many many troll of tribe when he said we join Horde."

"He killed some of the tribe because he wanted to join the Horde and they did not? He sounds crazy and evil."

"No, troll ways. Chief decide, or not chief. Kill to say him chief."

"And you didn't want to join the Horde?"

"No, Jah'ren say not hunter way. Not troll way."

"Live, hunt, forest, sky. Right? That is hunter way."

"Yes," he agreed happily. "Tribe hit Jah'ren when not coming. All hit Jah'ren and then throw in cave, say: Die. Live. No one care. Jah'ren dead to tribe. Never come back. We kill."

"That is awful!" she exclaimed shocked.

"No. Troll way. Tribe is family, tribe is everything. If not with tribe, dead. Jah'ren lay dead in cave long time."

"But weren't there someone who could help you? Your family? Mother and father or siblings? They could stay with you, couldn't they?"

He laughed, but she could not see what could be funny about it all.

"I say; tribe is family."

"But you have a father and mother at least," she said, not letting this go. Not even trolls could have such loose bonds between parent and child.

"Yes," he nodded. "Mother say to father; not kill Jah'ren. Not kill son. And Jah'ren not dead like other troll."

"They did not kill you because your father said so? Could he not stay with you?"

"Father chief. Chief go with tribe."

Cassandra did not know what to say to that. It was all strange to her, she tried to think that it was the right way to do things in a troll tribe, but she could just not get her mind to agree that it was right. It was so sad she sniffled, turning her head away not to let him know she was about to cry.

"Not sad, Kass. Jah'ren know what happen when he say no. Jah'ren not sad."

"Yes, you are," she protested. "You just don't want to admit it. I can see it in your face."

"Okey," he smiled. "Okey, Jah'ren sad. But now new tribe. Fucked up weirdo tribe."

"Don't say that," she laughed. "You have no idea of how horrible the sounds."

******

I know there was a lot of cuteness. And I'm sorry, but there's gonna be more. ;D

She's getting there, she just needs to see why her heart beats so fast when he's around. It's not easy. :D


	9. Endings and beginnings

Okey, I just have to say this is almost the last chapter. I know I update very fast, but it's not too long a story and I wanted to finish it. This part made my husband somewhat annoyed at the end, so if anybody get cross for it, I will have to publish the last chapter very quickly I think ;D

I wrote the last part listening to the beautiful music of Vienna Teng, with the lyrics from Heart's Alone in my mind, so don't blame me for sad cuteness. ;D

******

It was two days later that they arrived at the first river separating Two Silver from the plains. Since she saw the first familiar landmark Cassandra had been silent. She walked a little behind Jah'ren, looking around for the roads and paths she knew so well, most of them now grown over and forgotten.

When they entered the uneven hill between the rivers that had long ago been a populated village, she could feel her heart beat in her throat and her hands trembled. The hill now had trees growing on it, not large ones, but young, straight trunks shooting up from the fertile soil left by the fire.

There were no graves anymore, the stones fallen over, the crosses gone back to the earth. The only signs showing there had once been life on the hill were the remains of charred and blackened stonewalls.

Cassandra stopped by the soothed stones that had once been her father's forge. She turned to the troll, eyes full of despair.

"Can you leave me alone here for a minute?" she asked.

Jah'ren touched her shoulder and nodded.

"I go find food," he said.

She sat down on a rock, not knowing what to do, not daring to think. For the first time in ten years she could not keep the memories and pain at bay. Soon the quiet tears turned into shivering sobs, her whole body shaking.

Meanwhile, Jah'ren searched the riverbanks for something to keep him occupied until Cassandra would call for him. Walking along the bank he came to an old bridge leading across the water, and waded out on the sand beside it.

He was standing knee deep in the river, with no other purpose than enjoying the slightly cold water against his skin, when he heard the footsteps through the grass. They reached the bridge and the next moment the troll was standing face to face with a man.

His first reaction was to raise the bow, arrow pointing at the human on the bridge. The man was shocked by the sight, but raised his rifle and looked at the troll down the muzzle.

"No fear, I friend," Jah'ren said, feeling silly for doing so and at the same time so obviously being a threat.

The man spat at the ground, not taking his eyes of the troll a single minute.

"What are you doing here? There is nobody left here to kill," he barked. "You trolls took care of that long ago."

"I come with friend. Friend home here." Jah'ren lowered his bow a little to show goodwill.

"No friend of yours belong here," the man replied to this. "You and your kind should all be wiped out."

There was a rustling among the shrubbery behind Jah'ren, and as the man readied himself to meet the new threat, the troll's ears picked up the familiar footsteps of his human friend.

"Jah'ren? What in the world are you doing in the river?" Cassandra asked, her voice still hoarse from crying. "What is…"

She pushed through the last of the brambles and stopped dead on the bank as her eyes caught sight of the figure on the bridge. The man was staring right back at her, his gun still pointing towards Jah'ren.

"Who are you?" the other human asked suspiciously.

Cassandra could not answer. She blinked and blinked, but he still stood there.

"Simon?" she eventually managed.

There was a long silence. Jah'ren used it to get out of the river and take his place on the bank beside Cassandra.

"You cannot be," Cassandra croaked. "You died. I watched you die!"

Simon took a few steps forward, the gun now lowered and a look of complete despair on his face.

"I lived, Cassandra. I was saved by a healer. When I came to they told me you had left."

They stood looking at each other a long time, before Simon spoke again:

"I did not recognize you at once. You have changed much."

"You still look the same," Cassandra smiled, still numb from the shock. "Older, but the same."

"I guess. They told me you went after the raiders, swearing revenge. I guess you have lived quite a life out there."

She did not know what to say to that. He almost made it sound like he was blaming her for going away.

"I did not know you were alive," she apologized. "Nobody told me. They said everyone was dead. I could not stay. I was fifteen, I was angry."

Simon quickly told her the story of how the healer had come down from the main city with a band of soldiers right after the raiders had left because of the paladin who had not reported in. On their way down to check on him they had seen the smoke, and had found Simon in the forest not long after Cassandra had killed the orc and thought him dead.

"There were some of the others that survived," he told her. "The baker's boys were on the beach and hid among the rocks, and the soldiers saved the miller and his wife who were lucky enough to just be locked inside the burning mill."

Cassandra nodded, it proving too hard to speak. She had been so angry, so infuriated. She remembered leaving late at night that same day, stealing a dagger from the family who had taken her in and running through the forest, a single thought burning in her young mind; revenge.

Simon came a few steps closer again, realizing, as for the first time, that the two of them were not alone.

"You have been gone a long time," he said. "But I talked to some men from down on the plains and they told me they had heard that the girl who survived was on her way. I have been up here each day since that, just in case."

"Although," he added. "I heard nothing about no troll."

Cassandra, still deep inside her memory, stepped closer to Jah'ren.

"He is my friend," she said.

Simon seemed to consider this.

"No, that can't be," he finally decided. "I can not accept that."

Cassandra did not know what to reply, but before she had a chance to do so Simon continued:

"I do not want to believe that you, who swore to kill all their kind, would betray you kin and race in such a way."

"I swore revenge on the ones that took my life away," she said, rather angrily, hearing a low, humming growl from beside her. "I never had my revenge, but I will not take my anger out on someone who is innocent."

"Innocent!" Simon raged. "None of them are! They are all wicked and should be killed."

"Stop!" Cassandra snarled, making him look surprised at her. "You have no right! You do not know what I have been through, you do not know how I have lived. My life has changed, I have changed!"

They stood watching each other until the rage subsided and other feelings took over. Simon walked up to her and took her hand.  
"I waited for you. For ten years I have waited. I just did not think it would happen like this."

Overwhelmed with feelings, Cassandra barely realized that Jah'ren had walked down the bank a little distance and was sitting on a rock, long blue legs dangling in the water. Simon put his arms around her, holding her tight and whispering in her hair:

"Now you are home. You can be with us again."

"Yes," she answered, relief flowing over her. "I am home again."

They sat on the bank, talking about what had passed and what to do for a long time. The troll was still sitting on his rock, trying very hard to look like he had no care in the world.

"I need to talk to him," Cassandra told Simon eventually. "He is a good man… troll… man. He has protected me more times than I can tell you. I need to speak with him."

Simon just nodded, not liking it at all, but afraid to loose her if he started arguing again.

Cassandra jumped across the water on some riverrocks before crawling up on the flat stone Jah'ren had chosen for a seat.

"He wants me to come back to the new village with him," she said. "I have told him I will go there and meet with the others. I need some time to think and decide what to do."

"You be with human again?" he asked, and she could hear the pain he was trying to conceal.

"I don't know. I need to think a bit. It is all very strange to me right now."

"Maybe come with Jah'ren? Maybe stay with human?"

"Yes, if Jah'ren wants me to come."

He nodded, trying not to look at her.

"I don't suppose there is any chance I can get you to stay here with me, if not in the village, then you can live nearby?"

"No. Not Jah'ren way."

"Then will you wait here? I need to go to the village and think and get some time for myself. Will you wait for me here?"

"Yes, Jah'ren wait. And then Kass decide."

She put her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Please forgive me," she whispered, kissing his cheek softly. "But I need to figure this out."

"Kass don't be sad. I happy when you happy."

She placed her forehead against his, closing her eyes and feeling the bond between them that scared her so. He stroked her hair.

"Tomorrow night I will come with my answer. I promise. Before the moon is up I will be here at this stone and you will know."

The village of Stern had been built after Two Silver was burned. It was not big, but held within its boundaries some hundred people, most of them new settlers who had come in the later years.

Cassandra met with the survivors from her own village, now strangers and suspicious to this unfamiliar, dirty girl looking like she came straight out of the wilderness. Then she was introduced to some of the townsfolk, feeling strangely comforted to have her own kin around her again even though she did not know them.

She did not sleep that night, but thought all through the dark hours, and then, at dawn, she was certain of what she wanted. She went to tell Simon and found him so enthusiastic and loving that her mind was swayed once more.

All day she tried to get a chance to think, but the town was bustling with people who wanted to meet her and Simon would not leave her side for a single moment. As nightfall drew nearer she got more and more nervous and uncertain.

Washed and dressed in new clothes she sat outside the town's tavern, surrounded by some of the women who had taken her under their wings.

"Simon says you can have the wedding in just a few weeks," Clara, one of the older ones, told her. "He said he would like to take you into town for the dress, and the village will all help with the feast of course."

"I'm sorry," Cassandra said, feeling confused. "But we have not talked about marrying yet."

"Oh, but that is no problem. Simon has waited for you all this time, and he told us you would need some weeks to get used to be in a village again, but we will all take very good care of you."

Cassandra excused herself, and while Simon was busy talking to someone else she ran over to his house, quickly grabbed her things and was out of the village before anyone could stop her.

She reached the river even before dusk fell, but found the rock empty. Her heart beating hard and scared as she jumped out to it.

There was something small laying on the stone, carefully packed in green leaves and tied with long straws. Cassandra started unpacking it, her hands shaking with fright.

It had already gone dark when Simon came out from the trees on the other side of the river, but she knew he had been standing there a long time.

"He has not come?" he asked, although there was no need.

"I will wait," Cassandra said firmly. "He sometimes forgets everything if he's hunting. He's really whimsical."

"Will you let me wait with you?" Simon said, still standing on the bank. "Just in case this is the last hours I get with you."

She could not deny him that, but as he climbed onto the rock she kept her hand closed around something she would not let him see. He put his arm around her shoulders, and said:

"He might not come, you know. If he really is as good as you tell me he should be able to understand what is best for you."

Cassandra said nothing, but she knew they could wait the whole night, and forever if she wanted, and he would not come. He had made the decision for her, telling her what he wanted without words.

She could feel the pain in her chest, clutching at her heart as she clutched in her hands the small, smooth heart carefully carved from a piece of wood.


	10. A last farewell

Oh, noes! It's the last chapter. And please don't read while eating something sticky or sweet, or you might die of a cutie-overdose.

****

Jah'ren crouched in the bushes just outside of the light from the village. His ears picked up sounds from humans and animals as they ate their supper or did the day's last chores. He had not intended to come, but it had proved too hard.

The last week he had kept to the area, being careful not to leave obvious tracks anywhere, every day telling himself this would be the last one before he left for good.

Now that day had come. He could not stay any longer without doing something stupid or she noticing his presence. This was just the final goodbye, the desperate last chance to see her, to make sure she was fine.

It was hard for him. It had been hard enough leaving her; watching her sit on the rock until sunshine came and Simon had almost dragged her home. He had felt he did the right thing at the time, but watching her from his hiding place, hearing her weeping, had made him want to go to her and take her away again, away from this place she belonged.

He could smell her familiar sent from the house nearby, but he did not dare to go closer to it in case he was discovered. When the village settled down he might chance a look through the windows, maybe he would see her.

He imagined her there now, sitting by the fire, Simon by her side, and maybe she was reading. He liked to think she was reading. There was nothing he wanted more than to knock at the door and have one last word, one last look from those brown eyes, but he knew all too well that would do neither of them any good.

Lost in thought he did not notice the human sneaking up on him until an arrow hit the treetrunk beside him. He swirled around, still kneeling, with the bow ready.

"You must have been very far away to let me sneak up on you like this," Cassandra laughed.

Jah'ren blinked confused. For a moment he thought he must have fallen asleep and this was a dream his troubled mind had come up with. His eyes fell on the bow in her hands, the daggers at her waist.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Kass! No!"

"Oh, shut up," she said. Then she leaned down and kissed his lips quickly.

"No," Jah'ren moaned, but still taking her hand when she squatted down beside him. "Kass no come. You are human now."

"If you did not want me to come, why are you sitting out here? I could hear the call in my heart. I could feel you out here."

"Kass be with human," he begged her. "With Simon. Be happy."

She sighed, she had expected this; he never would admit what he wanted.

"Simon is nice and everything a girl could want," she agreed. "But he wants to marry me. He wants to keep me here forever."

"And that Kass dream, when young girl. Good dream still."

"There are other dreams now. I don't want to be chained. I am still a hunter even without you. Hunt, live, forest, sky. Simon does not understand."

Jah'ren could not keep from smiling, his heart was beating as fast as if he was in the middle of a fight and it thrilled him. But there was still the feeling that things had to be right, he had to do something right in his life and convince her to stay.

"But you human. Jah'ren troll. Not right."

Cassandra knelt beside him looking at the ground thoughtfully. When she spoke her voice was firm and serious:

"I'll admit it is scary; waking up one morning and realizing the one person in the world you want to share your life with is blue, has constant bedhair and likes wrestling crocolisks. But there are worse things."

"What?" Jah'ren asked, numb from the shock of her confession.

"Waking up one morning and know that you might have to spend your life without him."

His eyes stared at her in the dark and she could see the green flame somewhere inside them that made her soul ache.

"I realized that if I can not be with you, I would rather be alone. I thought of trying to track you. I though that if I searched you could be found. In me, all paths lead to you. And then I felt you."

He held her then. Held her closer than he ever had, whispering softly in his own language, clutching her to him and hating himself for it.

"Will you let me come?" she asked. "I don't care what as. I can be your pet, I can be your apprentice, just don't leave me here to be something that is less than I need to be."

"No," Jah'ren answered, making her wince. "Kass not pet. Not appre… app… other thing. Kass be Kass."

"And hunter," she whispered.

"Hunt, live, forest, sky, and Kassandra. Jah'ren happy."

After clinging to each other for a while they stood up as there was the sound of people from the village. Cassandra noticed the figure of Simon standing in the square, surrounded by some men with torches. So, her escape had been revealed. She had left a letter, but she knew it said everything he did not want to know.

"We must stop her," she heard him tell the others, and it pained her to hear the desperation in his voice.

Heart beating excitedly, she turned to Jah'ren and made a gesture towards the forest. The tall troll grinned, nodding happily and took her hand.

They ran through the forest, side by side, not in any hurry to get away, but thrilled to be together again and knowing very well it would not matter if the humans tried to follow. The darkness had enveloped the world and even if the humans had reached them, the two hunters knew how to use starlight and shadows to hide. Soon they were nothing but shapes of dark flowing through the night.

After a long run they stopped in a clearing. The smallest of the shades put her head back and looked at the stars above them.

"There need to be romance?" the tallest shade asked. "Flowers and diamonds and saving Kass from dragon and everything?"

"I would like to be saved from the dragon anyway," Cassandra answered. "But I guess I can manage without too much romance. Just don't hit me over the head and drag me to your cave."

The other shadow laughed; a rumbling sound of happiness.

"But now princess not marry prince, that is not how things happen in story."

"No," Cassandra smiled. "But just think of all those princesses who did marry the prince. They might not have been happy, and besides, every once in a while there needs to be a princess who actually chooses the ogre."

"Troll," he said firmly. "Not ogre."

"Oh, but there's always an ogre."

"Jah'ren not ogre!"

She laughed and ran on, her feet silent and light on the grass. The tall shade followed, the only sound from him the low, humming rumble of his laughter.

In the moonlight under the forest roof the shadows merged together, becoming one running shade as the tall one picked up the other. Then the movement stopped, and for a moment the only sound the forest would hear, if it was listening at all, was the hushed gasp of breath against breath.

*****

I know. I know. I'm sorry it's so dang cute.

There's a poem on the next chapter, it is Jah'ren and Cass's explaination to the hunters way, they made me write it. Okey, Jah'ren made me write it, and paid in naturalia ;) So how could I resist?


	11. The Hunter's way

I know your way, Love

**Hunt**

Running the heartbeat

The song of blood

Hearts beating

One final time

Before the offering to life

**Live**

Fight for it

Blood spilt in desperation

Moments I hold you

Licking our wounds like wolves

Heated breath upon breath

As we again surrender to life

**Forest**

Sanctuary and enemy

The blaze of your eyes

The mother of the land

The father of the hunt

Lover and traitor

**Sky**

Our house is the greenness of spring

The pleasure of summer

Gifts of autumn

The cold dead of winter

And in me

All paths lead to you


End file.
